In the snap parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, the left-liberal party Democrats 66 (D66), led by Rob Jetten, is leading, receiving a roughly equal number of votes with Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom.
After 90% of the ballots have been counted, D66 and the Party for Freedom each hold 26 of the 150 seats in the lower house of the Dutch parliament.
While this result is considered a victory for the liberals, it represents a defeat for the Party for Freedom: in the previous elections, which this political force won, it received 37 seats.
The coalition of the Labour Party and the Green Left, led by former European Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans, finished only fourth, receiving 20 seats. Timmermans has already announced his resignation as leader of this alliance.
Since other political parties have ruled out cooperation with the Party for Freedom, 38-year-old D66 leader Rob Jetten could become the youngest prime minister in the Netherlands’ history and the first openly gay person to hold the post. The kingdom now faces a complex government formation process that could drag on for months.
The snap elections were initiated by Geert Wilders, who announced the Party for Freedom’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition in June due to his coalition partners’ opposition to tightening immigration regulations. During these elections, Wilders repeated his promise to establish the strictest asylum rules in the EU.
