Left-leaning parties lead as far right surges in Netherlands’ EU elections

Exit polls show surge in support for populist Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration party after victory in national election last year.

Left-leaning parties in the Netherlands are projected to have narrowly won the most seats in the country’s election for the European Parliament, even as the anti-immigration party of populist far-right nationalist Geert Wilders made huge gains.

The Labour/Green Left combination was projected to have won eight seats, slightly ahead of Wilders’s Party for Freedom (PVV) on seven seats, according to a nationwide exit poll published on Thursday by broadcaster NOS.

The exit poll has an error margin of roughly one seat.

The result suggests huge gains for Wilders following his victory in last year’s national election, given that his party failed to secure a seat in the previous EU election and only got one after a reshuffle due to Brexit.

“This is a very positive sign and also a sign to the elites in Brussels that things will change,” Wilders told reporters in The Hague.