Dutch voters appeared to have shunned far-right leader Geert Wilders in favour of a centrist party, exit polls have suggested, after a snap election watched closely in Europe where extremists are gaining ground.

Centrist party D66 came ahead by a thin margin, exit polls suggested. The vote would signal a weakening of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), which had come in first in the last election.

The centrist D66 party led by Rob Jetten was projected to win 27 seats out of 150 in parliament, ahead of Wilders and his far-right PVV Freedom Party with 25 seats, according to the Ipsos poll.

The centrist D66 party was on course to win most votes in the Dutch national election and defeat the far right, an exit poll showed on Wednesday, opening a path for the energetic leader Rob Jetten to become the Netherlands' youngest and first openly gay prime minister. The exit poll projected D66 to win 27 seats in…

Rob Jetten's D66 party celebrates but with 90% of votes counted the result is too close to call.

A center-left party was poised to become the country’s largest political party, according to exit polls. The anti-immigrant Party for Freedom, led by Mr. Wilders, was expected to lose 12 seats.

Polls suggest anti-immigrant firebrand Geert Wilders could come out on top, but all mainstream parties have ruled out working with him, preventing him from becoming prime minister

Centrist party D66 appeared to win the 2025 Dutch General Election, tripling their current total of representatives in Parliament, according to the first exit poll of the night from research firm Ipsos I&O. While the party may have knocked the far-right PVV down to the second-largest in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, the initial data suggested that the PVV's losses were to the benefit of other far-right nationalist factions.

Exit poll indicates a tight Dutch election, with D66 slightly leading over Wilders' party, signaling possible coalition challenges ahead.