The Dutch Electoral Council officially declared Rob Jetten the winner of last week’s election on Friday, setting the 38-year-old centrist on course to become the country’s youngest-ever prime minister.
Jetten scored a razor-thin victory of 29,668 votes over anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders, the council said, after an election seen as a bellwether for the rise of Europe’s far right.
“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.