Far-right Geert Wilders’ party leads Dutch election
Beating all predictions, the Ipsos exit poll put Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) at 35 out of 150 seats, 9 seats ahead of the closest rival, former EU commissioner Frans Timmermans' Labour/Green Left combination. That margin was far greater than expected, AFP reports.
The party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the conservative VVD, was in third place at 23 seats, the exit poll showed.
Known as the "Dutch Trump" both for his bouffant dyed hair and firebrand rhetoric, Wilders' anti-Islam, anti-immigrant and anti-EU message appeared to have finally swept him to first place in the 2023 Dutch parliamentary elections.