Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is seeking re-election on Wednesday (March 15) in a parliamentary election seen as a face-off between his conservative VVD Party and the nationalist Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders.
The more immediate question in the Netherlands is whether a diplomatic row with Turkey will favor Wilders or Rutte, whose cabinet banned Turkish ministers from holding a rally in the Netherlands.
The latest Reuters poll puts Rutte’s conservative VVD Party top at 16.2 percent, ahead of Wilders’ PVV on 13.4 percent. The Christian Democrats are close behind at 12.5 percent on a rising trend.
Rutte on Tuesday said his party would offer stability in the face on an increasingly insecure world and added the Netherlands would remain in the European Union, telling reporters: “No Nexit”.
With just four percentage points separating the top four parties, any of them could win, and would then have to persuade at least three other parties to form a coalition.
(REUTERS)
