What next?

Months of wrangling over ministries and policies may now lie ahead as Rutte seeks to build a new coalition in parliament. To achieve the necessary 76-seat majority, he will need to enlist at least three other parties. His most likely partners are seen as the Christian Democrats, D66 and Labour.

All the other major parties have said that they would refuse to serve alongside the PVV in a coalition. But excluding Wilders from a multiparty coalition will reinforce his claim that he represents the only truly independent voice of the Right in Dutch politics.