With Rutte's bloc and other mainstream parties thriving, the far-right failed again to make a major breakthrough despite its hopes of appealing to populist sentiments and capitalizing on the severe economic downturn and pandemic that has killed more than 16,000 people in
Rutte, 54, has now won four elections in a row. He has been in power for more than a decade at the head of three different coalitions and could become the country’s longest-serving prime minister if he manages to form a new government.
He said voters had given his party “an overwhelming vote of confidence and it is humbling It is also forcing us to do everything we can to make a success out of it.
”“The agenda ahead of us is enormous,” Rutte said in his first reaction to the poll results. “In the coming weeks and months, we have to lead
The
“This shows that
The poll forecast that the centrist D66 party, which was part of Rutte's last coalition, won 27 seats — eight more than at the last election — to become the country's second largest party.
“This is silver with a golden glow,” D66 campaign leader
D66's leader,
“I have always believed and that has been confirmed this evening, that people in
“I had, of course, hoped for more than 17 … but I think we are still the third party of the Netherlands,” he said and added that his party likely would remain the largest opposition group in parliament.
Another party on the far-right of the Dutch political spectrum, Forum for Democracy, did better, according to the poll, gaining 6 seats to reach 8. Its charismatic leader,
“A difference of two seats per party could happen more often. A difference of more than two seats cannot be completely ruled out,”
Counting votes at municipalities throughout the nation of more than 17 million is expected to last through the night.
The Dutch voted, practicing strict social distancing, at thousands of polling stations on Wednesday's final day of an election overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
School gyms, churches, museums, concert halls and at least one windmill were pressed into service as voting centres by authorities looking for venues where people could vote safely amid rising infection rates. In
Rutte's popularity rose sharply last year as he steered his country through the pandemic that has killed more than 16,000 people in
Voters also had other issues on their minds, from the climate to housing shortages, health care funding and
A record 37 parties took part in the election and the exit poll suggested 17 could win enough of the vote to take at least one seat in parliament.
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