Dutch centrist Jetten confident of forming government after far-right's election setback

By Stephanie van den Berg, Bart H. Meijer and Marta Fiorin

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Dutch centrist leader Rob Jetten said he was "very confident" of being able to put together a government after his party's strong showing in parliamentary elections that saw Geert Wilders' anti-Islam Freedom Party lose ground.

With most of the votes counted from Wednesday's election, which was seen as a test of the far right's strength in Europe, Jetten's D66 and Wilders' PVV were tied on Thursday, with both projected to take 26 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament.

That was a sharp drop for Wilders' party, which lost over a quarter of its seats in two years, stemming from a poor performance in its first attempt at government and growing competition on the right. D66 tripled its score.

Major mainstream parties have ruled out governing with Wilders this time after he brought down the last coalition, which was led by his own party. This leaves him no viable path to a majority, unlike D66's young leader Jetten - who will still need to clinch the support of several other parties.

JETTEN 'VERY CONFIDENT' ON COALITION

At 38, Jetten would be the Netherlands' youngest, and first openly gay, prime minister.

The election delivered a "very strong message form Dutch voters that they want positive political powers in the center to work together and deliver for all the people in the Netherlands," he said.

With polished messaging and a surge in advertising spending, Jetten moved beyond his D66 party's traditional themes of climate change and education, plunging into the divisive topics of immigration and a housing crisis. In the process he won over some voters who had previously looked to right-wing parties.

"I'm very excited that we're going to have the first homosexual prime minister in the Netherlands and also one that is combining all the positive forces," Lotte van Slooten, a 25-year-old voter, said at a D66 election rally overnight.            

TOUGH COALITION TALKS AHEAD

Talks to form a government, which usually take months in the Netherlands, will be particularly complex in a very fragmented parliament. “It will be very difficult," said Kajsa Ollongren, a D66 party member who served as defence minister in government with Jetten.

With D66 and PVV tied for first spot, it was still unclear who would get the first chance to form a government.

Party leaders will likely convene on Friday to decide on the next steps, and could either appoint a "scout" to start holding coalition talks or decide to wait for final results, which are likely to come in a few days.

TEST OF FAR-RIGHT STRENGTH IN EUROPE

The Dutch election was seen as a test of whether the far right can expand its reach or whether it has peaked in parts of Europe.

The outcome suggests there are some limits to its appeal.

"We've shown not only to the Netherlands, but also to the world that it is possible to beat populist and extreme-right movements," Jetten told the crowd at his party's election-night celebration.

But with PVV tied for the top spot, it also showed the far right is an enduring part of an increasingly fragmented European political landscape at a time when many other parties have toughened their stance on immigration.

WILDERS SAYS IT'S NOT OVER YET        

Wilders said he would take the lead in forming a government if the PVV ultimately came out with more votes.

"As long as it's not 100% clear, D66 can't take the lead. We will do everything we can to prevent that," he said in a post on X.

Counting of ballots was still under way, but with 98.8% of votes accounted for it was not expected to change the fact that the two biggest parties are tied for the top spot.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, Bart Meijer, Marta Fiorin; Additional reporting by Toby Sterling, Suban Abdulla; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Toby Chopra)