"It's really helped Mark Rutte to take the lead and a big lead over Geert Wilders." Under brilliant skies, the Dutch went to vote in huge numbers, with turnout estimated to have reached at 82 percent.

In 2010, Rutte’s first minority government relied on the parliamentary support of Geert Wilders’ neo-fascist Party For Freedom (PVV), which until then had been considered taboo.

That's a result to be proud of," Wilder told journalists. With 55 percent of votes counted, Rutte's VVD Party was projected to win 32 of parliament's 150 seats, down from 41 at the last vote in 2012.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (R) and Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders (C) attend a meeting of Dutch political party leaders at the House of Representatives on Mar. 16, 2017 in The Hague ...

While Rutte’s ruling VVD party holds a narrow lead over Wilders in most polls, other parties are also still in the running and well placed to play a role in forming the next coalition.

Dilan Yesilgoz, Rutte's replacement as the head of the VVD party, said on the evening before the election that she would not serve in any cabinet with Wilders as PM, though she did not exclude her ...

The Dutch voted and chose a clear leader: Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Winning was the easy part; now he has to find partners in a landscape that is more complicated than ever in which to form a new ...

Rutte weighed in briefly during a book presentation in Belgium, saying Yesilgoz was steering a "very prudent course" by declining to join a Wilders cabinet and adding that he felt responsible for ...

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that he wouldn’t rule out governing with anti-Islam Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, as he acknowledged a collective failure by traditional parties to ...

Rutte is casting the election as a two-horse race between his VVD party and the Party for Freedom led by Wilders. The choice, Rutte says, is simple: Chaos or continuity.

While Rutte's ruling VVD party holds a narrow lead over Wilders in most polls, other parties are also still in the running and well placed to play a role in forming the next coalition.