Centrism seems to have triumphed in the Netherlands after a nail-biter election between the political middle and the right-wing.
Rob Jetten, leader of the centrist Democrats 66 party, declared victory on Friday after the pro-European Union faction tripled its seats and took a surprising bite out of the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV).
“We are the biggest party in the Netherlands! Now we’ll get to work for all Dutch people,” Jetten declared on social media Friday.
“I think we’ve now shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country,” Jetten said.
D66 and Party for Freedom finished neck-and-neck in the Wednesday election, with both expected to secure 26 seats in the Dutch parliament.
Jetten previously said that D66 was “waiting in suspense for the definitive result” of the election due to the extremely narrow polls.
His position seems to have changed after media outlets began projecting his victory.
National news agency ANP is claiming D66 beat out the Party for Freedom by a narrow 15,000-vote spread. The agency also projects that the party will scoop up one more seat.
The binding results will be released by the nation’s Electoral Council no earlier than Monday.
The 38-year-old former consultant would be the Netherlands’ youngest-ever prime minister and would also be the first openly gay person to head the national government.
“The positive forces have won!” Jetten previously said of D66’s massive gains. “I want to get to work for all Dutch people, because this is the land of us all!”
The Party for Freedom, led by lawmaker Geert Wilders, saw a marked decline from its first-place finish in the 2023 elections.
Wilders has rebuked Jetten’s declaration of victory, citing the pending announcement and saying that he will wait until the electoral council announces the result rather than relying on news reports.
“What arrogance not to wait for that!” Wilders said.
He continued: “But even if D66 becomes the largest, the PVV will not let the Netherlands be dismantled by Jetten and his ilk and will oppose his left-liberal mismanagement with full force from day one, 26 seats strong!”
Wilders established the PVV so that he is the only registered member, allowing successful candidates to represent the party as lawmakers while Wilders wields sole power over its platform.
Regardless of whether D66 is declared the largest party in the parliament, the election displays a marked drop in support for the Party for Freedom.
In September, PVV candidates were projected to win 33 seats out of the 150-seat legislature.
Wilders’s party triggered this week’s election when it left a shaky governing coalition in June over its failure to implement freezes on asylum applications and requests for family reunification. The PVV was the largest party in the coalition, but other parties refused to join together if Wilders were to head the government.
Support for the party, which is vocally anti-immigration and skeptical of Islam, surged months back following the high-profile murder of a 17-year-old girl named Lisa in Amsterdam.
Lisa, who was reportedly cycling home following a night out, was stabbed to death by a 22-year-old asylum-seeker. She was stabbed multiple times in the neck as she attempted to call the authorities, according to reports. Emergency responders arrived too late, finding her dead.
Authorities arrested a resident of the city’s Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers facility in relation to the murder.
The same asylum-seeker is believed to have attacked and sexually assaulted a separate woman in Amsterdam just five days prior. His identity has not been released pending trial, in accordance with Dutch law.
D66’s platform offered a migration stance that would continue the current trends with a greater emphasis on fairness for arriving immigrants.
“We want asylum procedures to be fast and fair, and our reception facilities to be humane and fairly distributed across the country,” the platform reads. “We will also support the implementation of the European Migration Pact in June 2026 as an important step on the way to a fair, humane, and effective asylum system across Europe. Newcomers should have the opportunity to work as soon as possible or be able to get an education.”
Regardless of the granular results, it will be difficult to form a coalition government due to the wide breadth of parties in the legislature.
The center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy managed to avoid catastrophic losses, giving up just two seats and placing third.
The GreenLeft-Labor alliance was not so lucky, losing five seats and ending up in fourth. Leader Frans Timmermans resigned from his position on Wednesday following the underperformance.
DUTCH ANTI-IMMIGRATION PARTY SURGES AHEAD OF ELECTION AFTER TEENAGER’S MURDER BY ASYLUM-SEEKER
While the Christian Democrat Alliance did not overtake any of the largest parties, it made spectacular gains, going from just five seats to 18, well within striking distance of GreenLeft-Labor and the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.
Many of the votes lost by the PVV went to smaller right-wing parties, including JA21 — a movement focused on curbing migration and expanding police funding that scooped up an impressive eight seats.