Dutch Election Exit Polls: Prime Minister Rutte Wins, Wilders’ Freedom Party Slides
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Mar 15, 2017
In a setback for Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders, and perhaps the entire European populist movement, the first Dutch exit polls from today’s general election which resulted in a far greater than expected turnout, are out and his PVV, or Freedom Party, has only won 19 seats, tied with the Christian Democrats and Democrats 66 party, both of which also got 19 seats; the outcome is in line with polls that were predicting a sharp drop off in support for Wilders in recent days. The winner: prime minister Mark Rutte’s VVD, or Liberal Party, with 31 seats.
As Bloomberg puts it, Rutte’s major victory is the result of “voters responding to Rutte’s plea to send a signal on halting the spread of populism.” However it also warns that amid high turnout, Dutch TV is now warning that some voting booths are still open, meaning we have a long night ahead of us. That also means the next exit poll might not be as “definitive” as it could have been.
Another note: the biggest loser is the Labor Party is headed for its worst result ever at just nine seats, compared to at least 23 in its previous worst showings. According to Dutch TV, this is the biggest slump in the vote for any party in Dutch election history, and reminiscent of what happened to the Liberal Democrats in Britain in 2015 accordfing to Bloomberg
While we await more definitive results, here are the exit poll results in context, and how they compare to the 2012 election, according to IPSOS.
The Rest…HERE
