According to exit polls, Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) and the alliance of Greens and Socialists (Groenlinks-Pvda) are in a tight race, with Wilders predicted to gain seven seats and the Left, eight. The two traditional parties, the Liberal VVD and Christian Democrat CDA could both lose a seat, respectively retaining four and five.
The left-liberal D66 party, a loser in the national elections of November, would according to projection win a seat.
The Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB) would enter the European Parliament for the first time with two seats, exceeding expectations.
The Euro-federalists of Volt and the Christian-Democrat centrists of NSC also look set to enter the EP for the first time with one seat each.
Both the Conservative-Protestant SGP and Party for the Animals, PvD, each look set to keep their seat.
Leaving the Parliament could be the representatives for Forum for Democracy (FvD), a party that had four MEPs but later imploded.
Michiel Hoogeveen, who tried to continue with the offshoot party JA21, looks unlikely to succeed in keeping his seat.
Official numbers will be shared on June 9; some seats are still up in the air.
The PPV “is the biggest winner, by far”, Geert Wilders noted in a first interview, when the exit polls came out. He called it “a mega victory”.
KIEZERS BEDANKT!
EEN MEGA OVERWINNING!#NederlandKiest #PVV pic.twitter.com/2kqHWWrqo3
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) June 6, 2024
The Greens and Socialists also appeared jubilant. The party called the exit polls “amazing”, stressing they came first.
The Netherlands gained two additional seats in the European Parliament compared to the previous elections, due to demographic changes.
Members of GroenLinks will join the Greens in the Strasbourg parliament, and members of PvdA will join the Social Democrats. The amount of preference votes cast will determine who exactly can go where. This ultimately means that the alliance is the biggest Dutch group in the Netherlands, but they won’t form a bloc in Europe.
Turnout was higher than in the last European election. With a turnout of 46.8 per cent, the Netherlands saw the highest turnout since 1989, when 47.5 per cent of people went to vote. This favoured Wilders, who, contrary to usual practice, succeeded in convincing his constituency to support him in Europe.
In the national elections of November 2023, 77.8 per cent of those eligible voted.
The Netherlands was the first nation in the EU to vote for the EP.
Because the elections are spread across a long weekend amongst European Member States, the allocation of seats in the European Parliament will remain unknown until June 9.
