Rob Jetten's centrist-liberal party D66 are in a neck-and-neck race with anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in the Dutch election, according to latest vote projections. With about 98% of votes counted, both D66 and Wilders' Freedom Party were heading for 26 seats in the 150-member parliament, a projection from Dutch news agency ANP said on Thursday.

Geert Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom and the centrist D66 have tied in the Dutch general election with 98% of votes counted

The centrist D66 party was on course to win the most votes in the Dutch national election and defeat the far right, exit polls showed on Wednesday, opening a path for its leader Rob Jetten to form a government as the youngest ever prime minister of the Netherlands.

The centrist liberal Democrats 66 surged in Wednesday's Dutch elections, finishing in a virtual tie with the far-right Party for Freedom for most seats in parliament.

Dutch voters appeared to have rejected far-right leader Geert Wilders in favour of a centrist party, an exit poll suggested Wednesday, after a cliffhanger election closely watched in Europe where extremists are gaining ground.

A center-left party was poised to become the country’s largest political party, according to exit polls. The anti-immigrant Party for Freedom, led by Mr. Wilders, was expected to lose 12 seats.

Violent protests against new asylum-seeker centers have broken out in recent months in towns and villages across the Netherlands, with protesters lighting flares and sometimes waving a tricolor flag that was adopted by Dutch Nazi sympathizers around World War II. Wilders says he’s opposed to violence.

An unprecedented neck-and-neck race in the Dutch general election has left a far-right party and the centrists tied with nearly all votes counted