Centrist D66 party wins tight race in Dutch election

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A nail-biter national election in the Netherlands came down to postal votes from Dutch citizens living abroad, with the centrist D66 party eking out a win over anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom, according to a final tally by national news agency ANP.

The pair will each have 26 seats in parliament, as the roughly 28,000 vote advantage for D66 was not enough for the party to pick up an additional legislator.

Using a nearly complete ballot count and an estimation based on previous patterns, ANP had predicted D66 would receive the most votes but the question of the additional seat was unclear until late Monday evening.

Speaking to reporters last week, Rob Jetten, the 38-year-old leader of D66, called the outcome a “historic result”