The liberal-progressive Democrats 66 party on Friday declared victory in the Netherlands’ general election after calculations by the ANP news agency claimed it could no longer be overtaken by Geert Wilders’s right-wing and pro-Israel Freedom Party.

“Thank you for your trust,” D66 leader Rob Jetten wrote on X. “We are the biggest party in the Netherlands and now we are going to work on behalf of all the Dutch.”

Although not all the ballots cast in Wednesday’s snap election have been counted, ANP reported earlier Friday that D66 was some 15,000 votes ahead of the Freedom Party and could no longer be overtaken.

D66 and the Freedom Party are projected to win 26 seats each in the 150-member House of Representatives, but analysts believe D66 could win an additional seat when the final calculations are made.

Faction leaders are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide who should appoint the verkenner—an initial “scout” tasked with exploring possible coalitions during the Cabinet formation process on behalf of the largest party.

Wilders in an X post on Friday charged that “the Electoral Council decides, and not the ANP—what arrogance not to wait for that.”

“Even if D66 becomes the largest,” Wilders tweeted, “the Freedom Party will not let the Netherlands be dismantled by Jetten and his ilk and will oppose his left-liberal mismanagement with full force from day one.”

The right-wing leader has suggested irregularities in the vote, sharing since Wednesday messages from his supporters making such claims.

“It’s pouring with messages like this from all over the country. No idea if they’re all true, but it would be good if it were probed,” he stated on Friday.

Jetten, 38, who has a chance to become the country’s youngest-ever prime minister, has told local media that he intends to build a center-left coalition, but he would likely need the support of the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy to reach a majority in parliament.

Jetten is also expected to invite the fervently anti-Israel GreenLeft-Labour Party to join his coalition. In June, that party called on the government to stop selling Israel parts for the Iron Dome rocket interceptor, triggering a large-scale walkout by Jewish members.

Meanwhile, the Democrats 66 leader during the campaign slammed the previous government’s failure to agree on additional sanctions against Israel and participated in May in a protest to stop the Jewish state from “starving and killing innocent Palestinians” during its war on terror.

In an Oct. 16 TikTok video post headlined “In case it wasn’t clear where I stand,” the progressive politician used three watermelon emojis—a symbol of support for Palestinians and their war against Israel.

Jetten visited the Jewish state before entering politics, while serving as the chairman of Young Democrats, D66’s youth organization, in 2009.

The Dutch government collapsed on June 3, ushering in the Oct. 29 snap election, after Wilders’s party left the coalition after others failed to back his plans to toughen immigration policies.

The Party for Freedom had entered the coalition some six months after its surprise victory in the Netherlands’ November 2023 general election, striking a deal with the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and New Social Contract parties, as well as the Farmer-Citizen Movement.

Initially described as the most pro-Israel coalition in the nation’s history due to its promise to move its embassy to Jerusalem, The Hague became one of the European Union’s most vocal critics of the Jewish state.

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