Wilders's Party Slumps in Final Dutch Polls on Election Eve
- I&O respondents supportive of Rutte’s handling of Turkey spat
- Freedom Party down to fifth in one poll, third in another
Dutch Voters Head to Polls to Test Populism
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The prospect of Geert Wilders emerging as the winner of Wednesday’s Dutch election was thrown into doubt by two polls on the eve of voting that showed his anti-Islam, anti-European Union Freedom Party slumping to fifth place in one survey and third in another.
The final poll from I&O Research showed Wilders’s party on 16 seats in the 150-member lower house of parliament, down four seats from a survey released just the day before. The last Ipsos survey before the election gave the Freedom Party 20 seats, a drop of three from last week. Both polls showed Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals gaining three seats -- to 27 and 29 respectively.