Exit poll suggests centrists led by Rob Jetten win Dutch vote, beating far right

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00:00With us first this hour, centrists appear to be on course to win most of the votes following legislative elections in the Netherlands,

00:06delivering a blow to the far right and opening a path for the energetic D66 leader Rob Yetten

00:12to become the country's youngest and first openly gay Prime Minister.

00:16Exit polls suggest his party is set to win 27 seats in Parliament,

00:21coming in just ahead of the far right, whose leader Yurt Wilders said a short time ago that he had hoped for a different outcome.

00:30Well, for the very latest, let's cross live now to France 24's Fernand Van Tetz, who's with members of that centrist party.

00:38Fernand, good to have you with us. Firstly, tell us, what is the very latest?

00:42We're seeing exit polls suggesting a narrow victory for the centrists.

00:48When are we expecting the final results?

00:51So the final results won't be known until tomorrow morning.

00:54The first votes are now being counted, and there is an error margin of one seat in these polls.

01:00However, the picture seems to be pretty clear that the centrists are for now looking to come out on top,

01:07with Yurt Wilders narrowly behind, and then the Liberals of the DVD coming in at 23,

01:13and the Green-left Labour Party actually only winning 20 seats in the 150-seat Parliament.

01:18And we actually just heard from leader Frans Timmermans that he will be resigning as party leader on the basis of this result.

01:26And Wilders, he was the clear winner the last time Dutch voters went to the polls.

01:31Does this come as a shock for him?

01:33What has actually gone wrong with his campaign?

01:35Or is this due, if the final result is as we're seeing in these exit polls,

01:40is that simply due to the success and the campaign,

01:42the positive campaign that was run by this centrist party?

01:45So I think there's a number of things at play.

01:48First of all, of course, this was really the election to lose, right?

01:51He had such a huge majority last time around.

01:53And there's a saying in Dutch politics that who breaks, pays.

01:56So if you make the government fall, as he did, that there usually is a political price to pay.

02:01Now, it long looked like that wasn't the case for him, but also his campaign has been kind of lackluster.

02:06He's cancelled a number of debates and interviews,

02:09initially citing a security threat which also hit the Prime Minister of Belgium.

02:13But later, when the security service says, actually, he would be free to campaign,

02:17he still chose not to appear on many platforms.

02:19And when he did show up on the debate stage,

02:22he just felt really uncomfortable in this new role of having to defend his policies.

02:26Because the way he became a big force in Dutch politics is by attacking those in power.

02:32But now he had the largest amounts of seats, yet failed to have his platform materialize.

02:37And parties really went for him on that front.

02:39And the second thing is that last time around, the door to power was open to him

02:44with the Liberals saying that they would be willing to form a coalition.

02:47This time around, all parties, the next four biggest parties,

02:50have categorically shut out the possibility of forming any coalition with him.

02:54So that also hit him, because basically if you would vote for him,

02:57it would be a vote for nothing, because you knew that he wouldn't be able to form a government.

03:01And also, the other party leaders were really hammering him on that fact,

03:05especially last night in the last debate as well.

03:07So those are some differences which we, I think, really see reflected in this result.

03:11And what is the atmosphere there?

03:13You're with members of this D66 party.

03:15They'll be hopeful that their leader will become the country's next prime minister.

03:20How long, though, would coalition talks be likely to take?

03:23Oh, yes.

03:25Well, I hear, of course, lots of waving of Dutch flags and chanting,

03:29yes, we can, which is their positive slogan.

03:32But also concern about how is this coalition going to take shape,

03:35because they will need at least four parties,

03:38and that would have to include the Liberals,

03:40who have been very categoric in shutting up any possibility

03:43with the green-left Labour coalition,

03:46which they would also need, that party,

03:48in order to get past those 75 seats necessary to form a government.

03:53So if you want to form any kind of government,

03:55you will need at least four parties.

03:56And currently, two of those parties have said

03:58they will not go into government together.

04:00So we'll have to see how this shakes out.

04:02Last time, it took seven and a half months to form a government.

04:05The election time before that, almost a year.

04:08So Dutch coalition form can take quite a long time.

04:12And it's been very clear that there needs to be movement,

04:15there needs to be steps taken forward,

04:17especially for this time of stagnation,

04:19with so much infighting in the coalition.

04:21So let's see tomorrow when the dust vessels

04:23and the first talks begin,

04:25what kind of coalition they can put together,

04:26and if he can actually head that coalition

04:29and become the first gay prime minister

04:31and the youngest prime minister this country has ever seen.

04:33Fernand, Fernand, thank you.

04:35That is France 24's Fernand van Tetz

04:37joining us with more on those exit polls

04:39that suggest centrists do appear to be on course

04:43for a win in those elections in the Netherlands.

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