Likely 16 parties in parliament, including three new ones

According to the 7:00 a.m. prognosis by ANP with 78.4 percent of votes counted, there will be 16 parties in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, in the coming four years. These include three parties new to parliament - JA21 with 4 seats, Volt with 3 seats, and BBB with one seat.

JA21 leader Joost Eerdmans "would not have dared to dream" that his party might get four seats, he said according to NU.nl. Eerdmans called it "quite unique" that people "in these large numbers give their confidence to a party that has existed for such a short time." Eerdmans and Annabel Nanninga formed JA21 late last year after leaving FvD due to an argument. "With our party, we will do everything we can to capitalize on that trust and achieve results," Eerdmans said. "This is wonderful, but at the same time it is just the beginning."

Volt is ecstatic about the outcome. The Netherlands is the first country where the pro-European party made it into the national parliament, according to NOS. "What a fantastic result! The Netherlands is ready for the politics of the future. Thank you for your confidence, this is just the beginning," party leader Laurens Dassen said on Twitter.

BBB, a farmers movement, will receive one seat according to the the prognosis. The party will therefore still have to hold its breath and cross its fingers while the final votes are counted on Thursday.

Sylvana Simons' party BIJ1 had one seat in the exit poll on Wednesday evening, but dropped off the list again in the provisional results.

There were also a few parties that had a seat in some of the polls in recent weeks, but not in the interim results. These include Splinter by Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen, and Code Oranje by Richard de Mos.

Of the post-war record 37 parties that participated in this parliamentary election, only 20 were on the ballots nationwide. The other 17 were only in some of the 20 electoral districts, because they did not meet the conditions everywhere.

The large number of parties in the election does not necessarily mean that Dutch parliament will continue to fragment, political scientists told NOS. Because two of the largest parties became larger - the VVD and D66 - the possible effectiveness of the Kamer may actually have increased. As the results stand now, there are two options for a three party coalition - VVD and D66 with either the PVV or CDA. After the 2017 elections, at least four parties were needed for a majority in parliament.