Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren (left) and Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema at a polling station inside a city-centre church in Amsterdam on Tuesday, March 16. (Dutch government photo)
THE HAGUE--Support for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s right-wing VVD has slipped slightly in the latest polls, but the party still remains far ahead of all the other parties in the election for the Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber.
The VVD is still on target to obtain more seats in Parliament than the 33 it scored in the 2017 general election, and could win up to 38, the polls show.
The second largest party remains the far-right Party for Freedom PVV, which is expected to pick up between 17 and 21 seats, or around 13 per cent of the vote. Geert Wilders’ populist party currently has 20 seats.
The Christian Democrat CDA and centre-democrat D66 parties, both part of the current coalition, are tipped to take up to 18 seats, or around 12 per cent support among voters. They both have 19 seats in the outgoing 150-seat Second Chamber.
The three separate opinion polls suggest 15 parties may end up in the Second Chamber, with right wing JA21 and pan-European Volt as new arrivals. Eight of the potential parliamentary parties are currently polling at less than five per cent support.
Voting in the general election is taking place over three days because of COVID-19 and will end in the Netherlands at 9:00pm today, Wednesday.
