Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the VVD party rides a bicycle in The Hague, Netherlands, during the Dutch general election March 17. (Reuters/Piroschka Van De Wouw photo)
~ Record win for D66 ~
THE HAGUE--Exit polls suggest the conservative VVD party will secure the most seats in the Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber in Wednesday’s general election in the Netherlands, setting up a potential fourth term in office for Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The VVD party is projected to come out on top in the election, in a vote overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exit polls see the VVD taking 35 out of 150 seats in the lower house of the Dutch Parliament.
If the vote tallies confirm the projections, the figure would be enough for a clear mandate for the VVD to form a government.
“The voters of the Netherlands have given my party an overwhelming vote of confidence,” Rutte told reporters.
VVD lawmaker Sophie Hermans said, “This shows that the Netherlands trusts the VVD and Mark Rutte to continue in this unprecedented crisis.”
Rutte had earlier said he was “cautiously” optimistic as he arrived in trademark style on his bicycle to vote at a school in The Hague.
The centre-democrat D66 party, which has frequently challenged Rutte’s European policies, is on course to secure second place with a record win of 26 seats, while anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders of Party for Freedom PVV lost ground to move into third at 18 seats, Dutch public broadcaster NOS predicted.
Coalition partner Christian-Democrat CDA is predicted to lose five of its current 19 seats.
Labour PvdA remains at nine seats after its record loss in the general election of 2017.
Socialist Party (SP) and green-left GroenLinks are both projected to go from 14 seats to eight in the new Second Chamber.
Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy FvD garnered support on the back of COVID-19 scepticism in a country that recently suffered its worst riots in decades after the implementation of a curfew aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus. Baudet’s far-right party is on course to significantly increase its presence in the Dutch Parliament by securing eight seats. Baudet was one of the only leaders to hold campaign rallies around the country.
The new Second Chamber will most likely welcome four newcomers. Based on research firm Ipsos’ exit poll there will be 17 parties in the Second Chamber, which is equal to the previous record which dates from 1918.
New to the Second Chamber will be JA21 with four seats, Volt with three and the Farmer-Citizen Movement and BIJ1, both with one seat.
Party for seniors will remain in the Second Chamber with just one seat and 2017 debutant Denk goes from three to two seats.
Normally the most reliable of gauges for an election result, the exit poll for this vote has a greater margin for error, according to Ipsos, which conducted the research for NOS.
Ipsos said the uncertainty caused by voting in the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there could be “a difference of two seats per party. A difference of more than two seats cannot be completely ruled out,” it said in a statement.
Millions of voters across the Netherlands cast their ballots at museums, churches and drive-through polling stations conducted over three days to help ensure social distancing and other COVID-19 measures could be maintained.
A limited number of voting centres had been open on Monday and Tuesday for the elderly and vulnerable, with voters also allowed out after a nationwide 9:00pm COVID-19 curfew, before polls opened for everyone on Wednesday.
