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 nearly tripled its seats, while Geert Wilders’ right-wing party suffered a drop from its shocking first-place finish in 2023.

The centrist liberals under Rob Jetten have taken a shock lead in the Dutch election, according to the main exit poll, two years after his party languished in sixth place in the last vote.

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.

Dutch liberal Rob Jetten, pictured above, now appears certain to be named the next Prime Minister – even if his D66 party doesn’t actually win the election. At the time of writing on Thursday, with most of the votes counted, Jetten is neck and neck with far-right populist Geert Wilders in the race for first place.

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.

I am not a "cyclist", but I do ride a bicycle almost every day ... along with hundreds of other people who are also not "cyclists". One thing I really appreciate about the Netherlands is that there is no stigma or group dynamics to riding a bicycle.

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

Her introduction over the summer to Lisa and Guido Meijers came by way of a new initiative aiming to increase the number of connections between the family members of those buried and remembered on the walls of the missing at the World War II cemetery and the Dutch people who have adopted each one.