Geert Wilders, leader of PVV
Based on the latest forecast from the Dutch news agency (ANP) election service on Thursday morning, the liberal Democrats 66 and the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, an ally of Hungarian Prime Minister, are neck and neck in the Dutch parliamentary elections: with 97.7 percent of the votes counted, both parties can expect to win 26 seats in the lower house of parliament.
The difference between the two parties is only 2,300 votes, in favor of D66. Voter turnout was 78.4 percent, slightly higher than the 77.8 percent turnout in the 2023 elections.
The D66, led by 38-year-old Rob Jetten, had previously hoped to win 27 seats, but according to the new forecast, it lost one after several municipalities submitted their final vote results.
The PVV on the other hand, improved by one seat compared to overnight estimates.
D66 may gain 17 more seats than in the previous elections, however the PVV lost 11 seats compared to the last elections.
The right-wing centrist People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) won 22 seats, followed by the Greens and the left-wing alliance of the Labor Party (GroenLinks-PvdA) with 20 seats. Frans Timmermans, the former EU commissioner responsible for the European Green Deal, ran as the joint candidate of the Greens and the Labour Party. The 62-year-old politician, who has repeatedly criticized Hungary, suffered a serious setback.
He resigned from all his political posts even before the official announcement of the results. The veteran politician planned to return to Dutch politics after ten years of activity in Brussels.
The right-wing, Eurosceptic Right Answer 21 party (JA21) can count on nine seats. The right-wing Forum for Democracy (FvD) party could send as many as seven representatives to parliament, while the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) could send 18 representatives to the legislature. According to current calculations, the Christian Union (CU) has three seats, while the Farmers and Citizens Movement (BBB) has four.
Some municipalities have not yet officially submitted their results. The ANP election service is also still waiting for about 20 percent of the votes from Amsterdam, which are expected to be tallied by Friday.
In the coming days, votes from the Dutch Caribbean territories and votes cast abroad will also be processed.
Voter turnout varied by province, with the highest in Utrecht (82.2 percent) and the lowest in Flevoland (73.8 percent).
The ANP election service processes and publishes data received from local authorities. The official final results will be announced by the Central Election Committee (Kiesraad), expected next week, after all the reports have been checked.
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The post Viktor Orbán’s Allies and Opponents Deadlocked in Dutch Parliamentary Elections appeared first on Hungary Today.
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