Mark Rutte Wins Dutch Election

The votes are still being counted in the Dutch 2017 general election but preliminary results show that the incumbent VVD headed by Mark Rutte have taken the largest share of the ballot papers. Currently standing at 21.2 percent of the vote, Rutte appears to have seen off the charge from Geert Wilders and his Eurosceptic PVV party which had previously led to speculation about the Netherlands following the UK out of the EU. With a coalition necessary to form a valid government, the VVD will now be looking at their options with the votes being spread quite evenly across a number of parties.