Voting is under way in parliamentary elections in the Netherlands that polls suggest could again be won by the anti-immigration firebrand Geert Wilders\u2019s Freedom party (PVV), although there is little chance of it being part of the next government.<\/p>\n
The PVV, which finished a shock first<\/a> in the previous election and formed a four-party all-conservative coalition that lasted barely a year before collapsing, is marginally ahead in the polls<\/a> and forecast to return between 24 and 28 MPs to the 150-seat parliament.<\/p>\n However, the far-right party\u2019s popularity has dipped since 2023, when it won 37 seats, and all major parties have ruled out going into government with Wilders, who pulled the plug on the outgoing coalition<\/a> in June in a row over his radical anti-refugee plans.<\/p>\n At the end of a campaign dominated by migration, healthcare costs and the Netherland\u2019s acute housing crisis, the centre-left Green Left\/Labour party alliance (GL\/PvdA), led by the former European commissioner Frans Timmermans, was lying a close second, projected to win between 22 and 26 seats.<\/p>\n Also forecast to do well was the liberal-progressive D66, prejected to increase its seat tally nearly fivefold to 21-25 seats, and the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDA), expected to more than double its number of MPs to between 18 and 22.<\/p>\n The outgoing cabinet members, who descended into infighting and achieved little \u2013 the PVV, liberal-conservative VVD, populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) and centrist New Social Contract (NSC) \u2013 are all forecast to lose seats, some heavily.<\/p>\n Under the proportional Dutch system, 0.67% of the vote yields one MP. Of the 27 parties contesting the election \u2013 including parties for the over-50s, for youth, for animals, for a universal basic income and for sport \u2013 up to 16 could enter parliament.<\/p>\n