Rob Jetten emerges victorious in Dutch election, set to make history as youngest PM

The Dutch Electoral Council on Friday officially declared Rob Jetten the winner of last week’s general election, paving the way for the 38-year-old centrist to become the Netherlands’ youngest-ever prime minister.

According to the council, Jetten secured a narrow victory with a margin of 29,668 votes over anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, following a closely contested race viewed as a key indicator of the far right’s growing influence across Europe.

“I think we’ve now shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country,” he told AFP last Friday.

Before taking the helm of the European Union’s fifth-largest economy, Jetten must first form a coalition, a process that could take months.

Under the Dutch political system, no single party receives enough seats in the 150-member parliament to govern alone, with compromise and negotiation crucial.

Jetten’s D66 centrists won 26 seats, the Electoral Council said, the lowest-ever number for an election winner. The far-right PVV led by Wilders also has 26.

A total of 15 parties won seats in parliament, including a party campaigning for animal rights and a group representing the interests of people over 50.

Although Wilders lost 11 seats compared to his shock election win in 2023, the far right remained strong in The Netherlands.

The far-right Forum for Democracy progressed from three seats to seven, while the hard-right JA21 party gained nine seats from only one in the 2023 election.

– ‘Strictest immigration policy ever’ –

Jetten’s preference is a four-way coalition bringing together parties from across the political spectrum.

He wants to work with the centre-right CDA (18 seats), the right-wing liberal VVD (22 seats) and the left-wing Green/Labour grouping (20 seats).

That would give him a comfortable majority of 86 seats but VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz has ruled out entering a coalition with Green/Labour.

Her preference is for a right-wing coalition with the CDA, JA21, and Jetten’s D66. That would have exactly 75 seats, making it potentially unstable.

Another possibility is a minority coalition, but Jetten has stressed that is not his preference.

Attempting to bridge the differences is a so-called “scout”, whose job is to work out which parties are prepared to work together.

Jetten appointed Wouter Koolmees, head of national rail firm NS, as scout to lead the haggling. He is expected to report his progress on Tuesday.

Wilders has reluctantly conceded defeat, congratulating Jetten, but also sharing baseless allegations of voting irregularity on social media.

“The results of this election are reliable,” said Electoral Council Chairman Wim Kuijken.

“In the Netherlands, there is a well-thought-out, robust procedure for voting and declaring the results,” said Kuijken.

The number of counting errors decreased to around 8,000 from 14,000 in 2021, noted Kuijken.

“The Electoral Council concludes that, during all the steps taken in the election process, no irregularities occurred that could give rise to doubts about the reliability of the election results,” said Kuijken.

Wilders has offered to join the coalition, but all mainstream parties ruled out working with him before the election.

The firebrand politician prompted the snap election, pulling out his PVV party after complaining progress was too slow to implement the “strictest immigration policy ever.”

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