Dutch centrist Jetten claims election win

THE HAGUE:

Dutch centrist leader Rob Jetten on Friday claimed victory in a knife-edge election over far-right head Geert Wilders, saying his surprise success showed populist movements could be beaten in Europe.

The 38-year-old head of the D66 centrist party is now on track to become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the European Union's fifth-largest economy.

With far-right parties on the march in France, Germany, and Britain, the Dutch vote was seen as a bellwether for the strength of populists in Europe.

Jetten told AFP his positive message of optimism had convinced the Dutch electorate and delivered victory over the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Wilders.

"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," he said. Dutch news agency ANP, which collates and distributes the vote tally, called the cliffhanger election for Jetten, saying he could not be overhauled.

With the final constituency result arriving Friday evening, only the overseas postal votes are still to be counted. Expats have historically broken for more centrist and left-wing parties. At the last election in 2023, D66 outscored the PVV by nearly 3,000 postal votes.

As things stand, Jetten holds a razor-thin lead of 14,081 votes over Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party. The D66 and PVV are each expected to get about 26 seats in the 150 member parliament. Postal votes are already being counted in The Hague but that result will not be announced before Monday evening at the earliest. The results will only become official when the Electoral Council declares them next Friday, but Jetten said there was no time to waste. AFP