The victory puts Rutte in a position to begin negotiations to form the country's next ruling coalition. The logical partner is the other big winner, the centrist, pro-European D66 party headed by former diplomat Sigrid Kaag, who danced on a table Wednesday night when an exit poll showed her party recording one of its biggest-ever ballot box victories.
Wat een prachtige avond. Jullie steun aan onze idealen en ideeën is overweldigend. Mijn dank is groot.
— Sigrid Kaag (@SigridKaag) March 17, 2021
Ik feliciteer uiteraard ook de andere winnaars van vanavond. Nu aan de slag, de toekomst wacht niet.
Foto: Martijn Beekman pic.twitter.com/UfXQ3SdYT1
Rutte said voters had given his Party for Peace and Democracy (VVD,) “an overwhelming vote of confidence and it is humbling. It is also forcing us to do everything we can to make a success out of it."
According to estimates, the VVD won 35 of the parliament's 150 seats, two more than it had - in spite of a scandal involving child benefits that brought down the Dutch government in January.
"Let me get this straight," tweeted Marloes de Wit, a voter, in a reaction to the projected results, "the government that had to go because of an unprecedented scandal gets more votes than during the last elections? Owkay..."
Even kijken of ik het goed begrijp:
— Marloes de Wit (@JustSeeForMe) March 17, 2021
Het kabinet dat moest opstappen vanwege een ongekend schandaal, krijgt met de verkiezingen méér stemmen dan de vorige keer?
Owkay... #exitpoll#toeslagenaffaire
“The agenda ahead of us is enormous,” Rutte admitted. “In the coming weeks and months, we have to lead the Netherlands through the corona crisis.”
The Dutch parliament has 150 seats, but traditionally no single party has ever won the absolute majority, forcing politicians to create coalitions of sometimes up to seven parties.
One of those coalitions resulted in the so-called 'polder model' based on concensus, when the VVD ruled together with its natural enemy, the Labor PvdA party, in the 1980s and 1990s.
New coalition
This year, an unprecedented number of 37 political parties took part in the lections of which 17 will have enough votes to enter parliament. Moves to form a new coalition were to start Thursday afternoon with the leader of the lower house of parliament meeting party leaders.
The sheer number of splinter parties will make forming a new coalition difficult as the larger parties don't have enough seats - even if the VVD and D66 hook up with the Socialists PvdA - to gain a majority.
A coalition including far-right parties is excluded, although the combined far right is projected to have 29 seats.
Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders lost 3 seats, but the more frivolous Forum for Democracy (FvD) of Thierry Baudet quadrupled from 2 to 8 seats. After the FvD split due to internal struggles, an offspring party managed to gain another 4 seats, bringing the total representation for the Dutch far right to 29 seats - an historic precedent.
European Union
The election, just months after Britain's Brexit divorce settlement with the European Union came into full force, saw gains among pro-EU parties. Big winner D66 has long been a staunch defender of the 27-nation bloc and among new parties in the lower house of parliament is outspokenly pro-European party Volt, which was forecast to win three seats.
