Centrist liberals lead in tight Dutch election – exit poll

Pro-EU centrist party D66 is on course to win with four rival parties close behind

Dutch pro-EU centrist party D66 is on course to win a national election in the Netherlands, opening a path for the energetic leader Rob Jetten to become the Netherlands’ youngest and first openly gay prime minister, an exit poll showed on Wednesday.

D66 is set to win 27 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, beating far-right leader Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, on course to get 25 seats.

The exit poll has a margin of error of up to three seats.

The highly divisive nationwide vote was called following the collapse of the government this summer. The PVV has seen its popularity dwindle ahead of the election, with its closest competitor, the GreenLeft-Labour alliance, showing a similar performance in the latest opinion polls.

Over half of the country’s voters remained undecided on whom they would back at the ballot boxes on the eve of the election, multiple surveys have indicated. The country’s data protection watchdog warned people against relying on the help of chatbots to make their choice, claiming AI tools often provide a “highly distorted and polarized view” of politics.

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