Geert Wilders' far-right party made strong gains but was edged out by a centre-left Dutch political alliance, according to an exit poll, after the Netherlands kicked off four days of EU-wide elections for the European Parliament.
According to the exit poll published by Dutch television on Thursday evening, the social democratic-green alliance of the Labour Party and GroenLinks secured eight of the 31 seats in the European Parliament filled by the Dutch.
Wilders' anti-immigration and anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) was on track to have secured seven seats.
Polls ahead of the election had predicted that Wilders' party would win a European election for the first time. One recent poll showed Wilders possibly winning 18 seats.
Still, Thursday's results were a success for the party. Five years ago it entered the European Parliament with just one MEP.
The far-right leader had delivered a shock win in the Dutch national parliamentary elections in November and will now govern with three other right-wing parties.
If the good result by far-right parties in the Netherlands is replicated in other countries, they could together win dozens more seats in the parliament, which has the power to change and block EU legislation.
