D66 party wins Dutch parliamentary elections according to unofficial results

Exit polls were released following the conclusion of voting in the Dutch parliamentary elections held today. With voting, which began at 7:30 a.m. local time, ending at 9:00 p.m., unofficial results revealed that the centrist and liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party won the elections. According to preliminary results, D66 is expected to reach 27 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, and party leader Rob Jetten is expected to become the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

The exit poll released by Ipsos I&O predicted that the Freedom Party (PVV), led by far-right leader Geert Wilders, would win 25 seats; the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) 23 seats; the GreenLeft/Labour Party, led by former European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, 20 seats; and the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) 19 seats.

D66 leader, 38-year-old Rob Jetten, had promised during the election campaign to end the political era dominated by anti-Islam and anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders, who was the winner of the previous elections in the Netherlands. The politician, who has increased his popularity in recent times, garnered support through his campaign run under the slogan "Yes, we can."

The voter turnout in the general election was 66 percent, according to data released one hour before the polls closed. Furthermore, in the election where 27 parties and 1,666 candidates competed, Dutch voters had to deal with a wide range of options and extremely large ballot papers in the parliamentary elections.