Geert Wilders suffered a loss of support as a center-left party staged major gains, an election result that could offer lessons for Europe’s far right.

The outcome of Wednesday's vote in the Netherlands could determine the strength of the far-right in a knife-edge race.View on euronews

Polls had suggested anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party were set to win largest number of seats.

Geert Wilders and his far-right party blew up the Dutch governing coalition this year. Will that cost their party seats in Parliament?

Voters in the Netherlands return to the polls on Wednesday less than two years after Geert Wilders led his party to a shock election win that the anti-immigration agitator could well repeat – but this time with little chance of his party ending up in government.

The Dutch election climaxed in an unprecedented cliffhanger Thursday, with only a few thousand votes separating the far-right party of firebrand Geert Wilders and a pro-European centrist party.

Dutch liberal Rob Jetten, pictured above, now appears certain to be named the next Prime Minister – even if his D66 party doesn’t actually win the election. At the time of writing on Thursday, with most of the votes counted, Jetten is neck and neck with far-right populist Geert Wilders in the race for first place.