Democrats 66 narrowly leads Dutch parliamentary election, exit poll shows

GENEVA

The centrist liberal party Democrats 66 (D66) has emerged as the largest party in the Netherlands' parliamentary election with 27 seats, according to an exit poll Wednesday by Ipsos I&O for public broadcaster NOS and RTL.

The far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) follows closely with 25 seats, while the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is third with 23. The left-wing alliance of GroenLinks–PvdA is projected to win 20 seats, and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) 19.

Given the exit poll's one-seat margin of error, and the possibility of up to two seats' deviation, the race for the largest party remains too close to call, said NOS. Official results are expected later Wednesday as vote counting continues across the country.

Among the smaller parties, the right-wing JA21 made significant gains, going from one to nine seats, while Forum for Democracy (FvD) increased from three to six. The pro-farming BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) party is projected to drop from seven to four seats, and the Socialist Party (SP) from five to three.

New Social Contract (NSC), which entered parliament in the previous election with 20 seats, is projected to lose all representation, according to the exit poll.

A second exit poll, including later voters, will be released within the hour, which could slightly alter the distribution of seats. Final results will be confirmed once the full count is completed.