Final day polling has Mark Rutte’s VVD on course for a large proportion of seats
By Thomas Ansell
Polling stations opened this morning for the first of three days of voting in the Dutch general elections. In order to keep queueing and crowds to a minimum in polling stations, voting will take place until Wednesday. Votes will be tallied quickly, however with no party likely to take a majority a long process of coalition building will probably follow.
The final polls available via Politico give Mark Rutte’s VVD by far the highest seat total (36), with the PVV in second (21 seats), and the CDA third with 17 seats. D66 has gathered momentum leading up to polling day, with 16 seats expected. The PvdA, Socialist Party, and Groenlinks are likely to get somewhere between 10 and 12 seats each.
Further down the listings, the Partij voor de Dieren may scoop 6 seats, pro-European Volt could get 3 seats, and the anti-racism party BIJ1 may get its first ever Tweede Kamer seat.
With voting over several days it is likely to be a surreally quiet election, especially with record numbers of postal votes expected. In Wergea, near Leeuwarden, a polling station staffed by volunteers including Paule Schaap was quiet this morning per the Omrop Fryslân.
“I’ve brought by book with me”, says Schaap, “who knows if I’ll need it, though”. A four-person queue had formed at 09:30, when voting opened.
