According to the first forecast, the European elections in the Netherlands will be a neck-and-neck race between the red-green electoral alliance and the radical right-wing party of Geert Wilders. According to the forecast published on television on Thursday evening, the red-green alliance of the social democratic Labour Party and the green party GroenLinks will win 9 of the 31 seats, while Wilders’ eurosceptic Party for Freedom (PVV) will win seven.
Previously, polls had expected Wilders’ party to win a European election for the first time. Five years ago, it entered the European Parliament with just one representative. The far-right politician and his anti-Islam party surprisingly won the national parliamentary election in November and will now govern with three other right-wing parties.
Around 360 million Europeans have until Sunday to vote for the 720 members of the European Parliament. The Dutch were the first to be allowed to cast their vote. The remaining 26 EU member states will follow in the coming days. The majority will vote on Sunday, including Germany. Results will not be published until all polling stations have closed. This will be on Sunday evening.