Dutch Labour leads in surprise victory
The Socialist (Labour) party of European Commissioner Frans Timmermans (pictured) won a surprise victory in a Dutch election for European Parliament, an exit poll showed, beating a Eurosceptic challenger who had been topping the polls.
The leading social democrat candidate to head the EU Commission, Timmermans propelled his pro-European party to a win, taking more than 18% of the vote.
The upstart far right Forum for Democracy of nationalist Thierry Baudet, which had been neck and neck in polls alongside Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s c, finished third at 11% (3 seats), the exit poll showed.
“A European breakthrough @fvdemocratie! Thanks for all the votes! We will be tireless for the DUTCH sake over the next five years! #FVD”, Derk Jan Eppink, Dutch public figure wrote in his Twitter micro blog.
Dutch Labour doubled its 2014 result, showing and beat opinion polls, most of which showed it finishing third at best. At chart below PvdA wins 5 seats in the European Parliament.
