Left prevails over far right in Netherlands in European elections, according to exit polls

The left-wing list formed by the Greens and the Social Democrats, the GL-PvdA, led by Frans Timmermans, would have won 8 of the 31 seats corresponding to the Netherlands in the European Parliament (EP), while the Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders, the far-right, would have been close with 7 seats, 6 more than now, according to the exit poll.

The Netherlands is the first of 27 countries to hold elections, which will run until Sunday, June 9.

The official results will not be known until the final European Union (EU) electoral college closes in Italy at 11:00 p.m. next Sunday, which still leaves open the possibility that the left and the radical right will exchange some seats, although, as surveys already predicted, they remain the most represented parties.

In any case, this would be a major gain in seats for Wilders’ far-right, as it currently only has one seat, which it acquired due to an additional distribution of seats after leaving the Community Club of the United Kingdom. The Left would lose one seat, as it currently has nine seats.

In third place is the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), to which liberal Mark Rutte belongs, with four seats; followed by the Christian Democrats of the CDA, with 3 seats, as well as the left-wing liberal D66.

The BBB Farmer-Citizen Movement – ​​critical of European rules for farmers – will enter the European Parliament for the first time with two seats, while four other parties will take one seat each: the pro-European Volt party, the Christian democrat NSC, the Calvinist SGP, and the animal husbandry party PvdD.

The biggest loser in these elections is the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), a party led by Thierry Baudet and the subject of strong criticism for its conspiracy theories. The FvD will lose its four seats in Strasbourg and will be left without European representation.

This data comes from exit polling: Ipsos asked voters at numerous polling stations across the country about their vote, which gives a good picture of Dutch voter behaviour.

However, these results typically have a margin of error of one seat per party, so the results are particularly concerning for parties which now appear to have no seats, as they may eventually gain representation.

Electoral participation in the Netherlands was 44% of voters, three points higher than in the 2019 European elections.

The Netherlands was the first EU country to go to the polls, followed by Estonia, and for this reason official results will not be known before 11:00 pm (Spanish peninsular time) on Sunday, when the last polling stations in Italy close.