The votes are in: VVD wins, Anti-Islam PVV tumbles, Big gain for Greens in exit poll
An exit poll sampling voters in the 2017 Netherlands parliamentary election shows the conservative party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte taking 31 seats in the Lower House, down from its current 41 seats. The coalition partner of Rutte's VVD, the Labour party (PvdA), showed a bigger than expected drop, losing 29 of its 38 seats, the Ipsos exit poll showed.
The nationalist PVV, led by the anti-Islam Geert Wilders, showed a gain of just four seats to 19. At its height of popularity since a string of terror attacks in Europe and the mass entrance of asylum seekers in Europe, the PVV drew enough public support to hold about 37 seats and Wilders was considered more trusted than the Prime Minister.
Perhaps the biggest winner tonight is GroenLinks, led by rising political star Jesse Klaver. His party showed a large surge in public support, particularly since early February, and is poised to hold 16 lower house seats under the new cabinet, up from four.
Meanwhile, centrist party D66, led by Alexander Pechtold, is now expected to wrap up 19 seats. It would represent a gain of seven, and reflects the more optimistic side of recent polling data.
Compared to polling released today tracking voters up to election day, the VVD also outperformed their anticipated 26 seats. Denk was another party that saw a nice boost compared to recent polls. Denk, a party that splintered off from the PvdA, was expecting two seats in their first-ever election, and are likely to get three. The party has made themselves attractive to Turkish voters over the last year, and may have seen a rise in support following the ongoing row foreign affairs strife between Turkey and the Netherlands.
Denk is not the only newcomer expected to sit members of parliament. Forum voor Democratie appears to have won two seats.
The exit poll was commissioned by broadcasters NOS and RTL. They sampled voters at 43 different polling stations. Official results of the Dutch elections are expected to be certified in a few weeks.
Full results of Ipsos exit poll
- VVD 31 (-10)
- D66 19 (+7)
- CDA 19 (+6)
- PVV 19 (+4)
- GroenLinks 16 (+12)
- SP 14 (-1)
- PvdA 9 (-29)
- ChristenUnie 6 (+1)
- Partij voor de Dieren 5 (+3)
- 50Plus 4 (+2)
- Denk 3 (+3)
- SGP 3 (0)
- Forum voor Democratie 2 (+2)
Parties not expected to send a Member of Parliament to the Lower House include Artikel 1, VNL, Piratenpartij and GeenPeil.
