Dutch Prime Minister’s Party Ahead in Parliamentary Elections, Reports Suggest

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), headed by Mark Rutte, the acting Dutch prime minister, is leading in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands with 99.4 percent of the ballots counted, media reported on Friday.

According to Telegraaf, VVD will get 35 out of 150 seats in the parliament, which is two seats more than it currently holds. Democrats 66, the left party headed by Sigrid Kaag, the acting trade minister, will get 23 seats, or four more seats than it currently holds.

The nationalist Party for Freedom, headed by lawmaker Geert Wilders, will get 17 seats, and the Christian Democratic Appeal, whose leader is Wopke Hoekstra, the acting finance minister, is expected to secure 15 mandates.

The elections for the country's lower chamber of parliament were held in course of three days - from Monday to Wednesday - due to the coronavirus-related restrictions. Thirty-seven parties were registered to take part in the elections.