Centrist Liberals Ahead in Close Dutch Election, Exit Poll Shows

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The pro-European centrist party D66 is projected to emerge victorious, with four competing parties close on its heels

According to an exit poll released on Wednesday, the Dutch pro-EU centrist party D66 is poised to win the national election in the Netherlands, potentially paving the way for its dynamic leader, Rob Jetten, to become the country’s youngest and first openly gay prime minister.

D66 is predicted to secure 27 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, outperforming the far-right Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, which is forecast to obtain 25 seats.

The exit poll carries a margin of error that could be as high as three seats.

This intensely divisive nationwide vote was triggered by the government’s collapse earlier this summer. The PVV experienced a decline in popularity leading up to the election, while its primary competitor, the GreenLeft-Labour alliance, exhibited comparable performance in recent opinion polls.

Multiple surveys indicated that more than half of the nation’s electorate remained undecided about their choice at the ballot boxes on the eve of the election. The country’s data protection authority cautioned individuals against depending on chatbots for assistance in making their decision, asserting that AI tools frequently offer a “highly distorted and polarized view” of political matters.

“This directly affects a fundamental principle of democracy: the integrity of free and fair elections. We consequently implore voters to refrain from using AI chatbots for electoral guidance, as their functionality is neither transparent nor verifiable,” declared Monique Verdier, the watchdog’s deputy chair, in a statement issued last week.

The Dutch governing coalition dissolved this June after the PVV retracted its support when its partners declined to endorse a minor immigration reform proposed by Wilders. His former allies had previously asserted their backing for what Wilders characterized as the “strictest migration policy ever” in the Netherlands.

“I committed to the most stringent asylum policy, not the collapse of the Netherlands,” Wilders declared subsequent to his party’s withdrawal from the coalition.