Dutch polls today: coalition looks likely

THE HAGUE: On the day of the Dutch elections, the Netherlands seems on its way to complete a difficult formation of a broad government coalition excluding the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV), experts said.

The Dutch parliamentary election sees a total of 28 parties bidding for 150 seats in the lower house.

The latest poll by Peilingwijzer showed that the liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) (24-28 seats) of current Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the PVV (20-24) were in the lead followed by the conservative Christian Democrats (CDA) (18-20) and the centrist Democrats 66 (D66) (17-19).

“I’m fighting very hard to win these elections,” Rutte said. “We are ahead in the polls, but I think we should gain more seats.”