Dutch Election Win for Liberal-Progressive D66

By Staff, Agencies

The Dutch liberal-progressive party D66 won the most votes in Wednesday’s general election, the news agency ANP has reported, putting its 38-year-old leader, Rob Jetten, on course to become the youngest prime minister in the Netherlands.

While the last few thousand votes are still being counted, Dutch media reported on Friday that Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration, anti-Islam Party for Freedom [PVV] could no longer win.

D66 is now expected to take the lead in a first round of talks to form a coalition government, a process that usually takes months.

Both parties were projected to win 26 seats in Wednesday’s snap election focused on housing, immigration, healthcare, and leadership; D66 is now likely to secure 27 seats, according to ANP.

All mainstream parties had ruled out partnering with Wilders, the anti-Islam PVV leader whose 37-seat win in 2023 led to a short-lived right-wing coalition that collapsed over his strict immigration plans.

The “most rightwing government ever” ends, centrists rise, but far-right support shifts to smaller parties and political trust stays at 4%.

By convention, the winning party’s leader leads coalition talks, but with far-right votes splintered to JA21 and Forum for Democracy, forming a government will be difficult.

On Friday, Jetten called on all mainstream parties to unite, saying voters want cooperation and a majority focused on housing, migration, climate, and the economy.

Leonie de Jonge, a far-right extremism expert, said D66 can lead government formation, but the far right remains strong, making it challenging to build a government in the fragmented Dutch political landscape.

A left-right coalition including the Christian Democrats, VVD, and GreenLeft-Labour would be strongest, but VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius repeatedly ruled out partnering with the left.

Jetten’s debate skills, positive messaging, and clean-cut image helped D66 win historic support from both left- and right-leaning voters, attracting dissatisfied GreenLeft-Labour supporters and rightwing voters drawn to the party’s tougher immigration stance, making its electorate more diverse.