Exit Polls Suggest Dutch Rejection Of Nationalist Candidate Wilders

While results will be announced overnight following the vote Wednesday, the identity of the next government is unlikely to be known for some time. His party is expected to gain five seats, up from its current 15.

Rutte had framed the election as a choice between continuity and chaos, portraying himself as a safe custodian of the nation’s economic recovery and casting Wilders as a far-right radical who was unprepared to make tough decisions.

With almost all votes counted his governing centre-right VVD party easily beat the anti-immigration, anti-EU Freedom party of Geert Wilders.

At the moment, party leader Andrew Weaver is the only Green sitting in the B.C. legislature. The right Liberals and the Labour Party, who had a majority of 79 seats in the 150-seat parliament, have lost half of their votes and are now down to 40 seats.

Populism feeds off a sense of grievance, and the Dutch simply don’t have too much to complain about.

French President Francois Hollande said Mr Rutte had won a “clear victory against extremism” while German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, tweeted: “The Netherlands, oh the Netherlands you are a champion!” Rutte now has to build a coalition that incorporates (paywall) some of the hard-right sentiments popularized by Wilders.

Wilders’ PVV will have a third more seats in parliament than before, but is still well below a 2010 high of 24 seats.

Soon after the exit polls were released, he tweeted his thanks and said “Rutte is nowhere near rid of me”.

Geert Wilders has vowed to remain an active presence in Dutch politics despite failing to capitalise on a upsurge in support for far-right populist parties across Europe. Later in the year, two more countries to have seen a populist uprising, France and Germany, will also face crucial elections. Voters select parties, not individual candidates, and seats are awarded according to percentage of the total popular vote.

Both the CDA and D66 would be natural coalition partners for Rutte, who like most Dutch parties, has refused to work with Wilders, turned off by his incendiary rhetoric. “We gained seats. That’s a result to be proud of”, Wilder told journalists.

The Dutch establishment held strong under a growing wave of populism as center-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte looks on course for victory following the country’s biggest election in a generation.

A provisional result is expected around 0500 GMT Thursday but it could take several weeks for coalition talks to conclude and a new government to be formed.

Its voters appear to have fled in various directions, but most notably to the environmentalist GreenLeft party, which grew its parliamentary representation by 10 seats to 14.