The centrist D66 has won the Dutch election, according to projections by the ANP news agency carried by NOS and other outlets. The far-right PVV of Geert Wilders did not close the gap in the final stretch, leaving D66 leader Rob Jetten poised to become the youngest prime minister of the EU’s fifth-largest economy. Provisional totals show Jetten ahead of Wilders by 15,155 votes with one district and expatriate ballots still to be tallied. Postal votes are being counted in The Hague and final results are expected no earlier than Monday night, 3 November.
Next steps in The Hague
Senior political figures will meet in Parliament on Tuesday to appoint a “scout” who will sound out parties on possible alliances. The leader of the largest party nominates this figure and oversees exploratory talks that could take months. Acting prime minister Dick Schoof remains in post in the meantime and said he expects to stay on through Christmas.
Coalition arithmetic
If confirmed as the winner, Jetten will need a majority of at least 76 seats in the 150-member chamber. A broad coalition is one likely path, potentially with the centre-right CDA (18 seats), liberal VVD (22) and the Greens/Labour alliance GL-PvdA (20). D66 holds 26 seats. Questions remain over VVD and GL-PvdA working together. VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz said before the vote that such a partnership “would not work” and favoured a centre-right coalition. GL-PvdA will elect a new leader on Monday after Frans Timmermans’s resignation, a change that could smooth negotiations.
Far-right landscape
While PVV slipped, other far-right parties gained ground. Forum for Democracy (FvD), which advocates leaving the Schengen free-movement area, more than doubled its share and will have seven MPs, up from three. JA21, which brands itself a conservative-liberal party, rose from one to nine seats.
Rob Jetten told AFP that his victory over Wilders shows populist movements can be defeated with a positive campaign. He called the result “historic” for D66 and said his priority is to form a “stable and ambitious” government, adding there is no time to waste as coalition talks begin. He said he had not yet spoken to Wilders but that it is now clear D66 is the largest party.
Who is Rob Jetten
A former athlete and coach, Jetten once paced Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan in training runs. At 38, he is on course to be the Netherlands’ youngest prime minister and the first to have publicly come out as gay. Early in his career he was mocked as “Robot Jetten” for stiff delivery and thick glasses; he later had laser eye surgery and adopted a more relaxed style. A popular TV quiz appearance boosted his profile. Before frontline politics he worked as a consultant at ProRail, the national rail infrastructure agency. He served as minister for Climate and Energy from 2022 to 2024. Throughout the campaign he ruled out cooperation with Wilders, saying the PVV leader behaves “like a playground bully” and that as a democrat he could not form a coalition with him. He plans to marry Argentine field-hockey player Nicolás Keenan next summer in Spain.
Source: AMNA