An exit poll immediately after voting ended Wednesday in the Dutch general election suggested that caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative party won the most seats, putting him first in line to form a new ruling coalition.
Rutte, 54, has been in power for more than a decade at the head of three different coalitions and could become the country's longest-serving prime minister if he manages to form a new coalition.
The Ipsos poll for national broadcaster NOS forecast that Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would win 35 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament.