In brief
As the preliminary results of the Dutch election come in, Rob Jetten's D66 and Geert Wilders' Freedom Party are tied with 26 seats each in the 150-member parliament. Jetten's campaign, marked by polished performances and public appeal, contrasts sharply with Wilders' struggle to maintain support after his controversial coalition breakdown earlier this year. The election underscores Dutch voters' desire for a shift from negativity towards a progressive vision, particularly in addressing the country’s housing crisis.
Rob Jetten's centrist-liberal party D66 are in a neck-and-neck race with anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in the Dutch election, according to almost complete results.
With almost 99% of votes counted, both D66 and Wilders' Freedom Party were heading for 26 seats in the 150-member parliament, a projection from Dutch news agency ANP said on Thursday.
Initial exit polls had put Jetten in the lead. Millions of Dutch people have turned a page; they've said goodbye to a politics of negativity, he told supporters.
A downbeat Wilders had earlier conceded the result was not what he wanted, having lost 11 seats, but said he had still achieved his second best result ever.
But as the final results trickled in on Thursday, the race became so close that the lead flipped between the two frontrunners. Then, the last preliminary results came in from the capital Amsterdam and Rob Jetten's liberals moved significantly ahead by more than 15,000 votes.
Both parties were below 17% of the national vote, and three other parties were not far behind, including the conservative-liberal VVD on 22 seats, followed by the left-wing GreenLeft-Labour party and the Christian Democrats.
Wilders led the polls throughout the election campaign, but after he pulled the plug on his own coalition in June in a row over asylum and migration, all the mainstream leaders made clear they did not wish to work with him again.
He admits he has little hope of forming a government himself, but said on X on Thursday that if his party did top the vote he should have the first try. Even without a clear-cut victory, Jetten - who staged a remarkable campaign - would stand a stronger chance of leading the next administration.
Only a few weeks ago, the polls put D66 - a party formed by democratic reformers in 1966 - on just 12 seats. But the photogenic, 38-year-old liberal leader capitalised on polished performances in a succession of TV debates and interviews.
The fact that he also competed in a TV quiz show called The Smartest Person in the weeks leading to the vote only added to his public profile.
Jetten was careful not to claim victory on Wednesday night, despite the party mood among his supporters. The conservative liberal VVD of Dilan Yesilgöz was also heading for a successful night in third place and her party would be a good fit for any potential Jetten-led coalition.
Going into Wednesday's election, voters knew the result would be on a knife-edge, as five parties were in the running to win. Wilders' PVV Freedom Party won 37 seats in November 2023, but many of those voters will have been put off by the realisation he would struggle to find parties to work with him again.
This election was partly fought on migration and overcrowded asylum centres, but the biggest issue for voters was the chronic housing shortage of almost 400,000 homes, in a population of 18 million. Jetten's party has said it will build 10 cities as part of its plan to tackle the crisis.
Overall, the election results signal a significant shift in Dutch politics, highlighting a populist's decline while a centrist liberal party rises amid changing voter sentiment.
