Dutch Eurosceptic party stumbles in European elections - exit poll

[muriel_volestrangler]

(Reuters) - The Eurosceptic party of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders slumped into a surprise fourth place in European Parliament elections on Thursday, according to exit polls which showed his Freedom Party behind three pro-European groups.

Wilders's anti-immigration, anti-Islam party, which opinion polls had indicated would win the Dutch part of the vote for the European Union's parliament, took only 12.2 percent, the final exit poll showed.

That would give it three out of the 26 Dutch seats in the assembly, down from four in the last elections held in 2009, when it came in second place.

Two pro-European parties, the centre-right Christian Democrats and the centrist Democrats 66 party were vying for first place, with both on around 15 percent and expecting four seats each, according to the poll of 40,000 voters conducted by Ipsos for Dutch TV.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/22/uk-eu-election-netherlands-idUKKBN0E224820140522

Hooray. The UK also voted in the European elections, but the rules here say they can't publish exit polls until the other EU countries have voted, so there won't be one - the real counting will be after poll close in all countries, on Sunday.

[okaawhatever]

1. That is good to hear. nt