Dutch far-right party gets 14.8 pc vote in European ballot: exit polls

(THE HAGUE) - Dutch extreme right MP Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) got 14.8 percent of the vote and four seats Thursday in its first European parliament elections, exit polls showed.

The PVV was second only to the Christian Democrats (CDA) of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, which came in 4.1 percentage points lower from 2004 at 20.3 percent, losing two of its current seven parliamentary seats.

The CDA's governing coalition partner, the labour PvdA, was the biggest loser -- down 10.2 percentage points to 13.4 percent, according to exit polls conducted by market research bureau Synovate for Dutch television NOS and news agency ANP and released after the close of voting at 9:00 pm local time (1900 GMT).

The PvdA would take only four seats on the parliament, compared to its current seven.

Wilders, who occupies the tenth and last place on his party list, has stressed he would not take a seat on the EU parliament.

Exit polls showed a voter turnout of 40 percent, unchanged from the previous elections in 2004.

The Netherlands and Britain were the first countries to vote in elections being held across the 27-member EU until Sunday.

Nearly 13 million voters were registered to elect 25 Dutch MPs out of 736 in the parliament, from 289 candidates on 17 party lists. The Netherlands previously had 27 seats.

Wilders, 45, has gained international notoriety with his attacks on Islam, including with his 17-minute film "Fitna", which describes the Koran as fascist.

The 45-year-old, with his platinum dyed hair and 24 hour protection after multiple death threats, faces a hate speech trial at home and was recently barred from entering Britain to stop him spreading "hatred and violent messages".

He is at the height of his political popularity at home with his hard line on immigration, which many Dutch citizens feared was putting their secular and egalitarian values under threat.

With the PVV having gained nine seats in the Dutch parliament in 2006, compared to 41 for the CDA, opinion polls have predicted closer to 30 seats for both parties were elections to be held today.

The PVV entered the EU parliament campaign on the ticket "More Netherlands, less Europe", and opposes the entry of Turkey into the bloc.

It also opposes the parliament itself, but Wilders has said the PVV's participation would seek to "bring it down from the inside".

He has stated that "Islam is the Netherlands' biggest problem", campaigning for a total ban of the burka and of the Koran, which he has compared to Hitler's "Mein Kampf".

He seeks a halt to immigration from Muslim countries and the construction of mosques in the Netherlands.

Wilders has sought to use the European elections as a sort of referendum of Dutch support for the continental bloc.

Sixty-two percent of the Dutch electorate voted "No" in a 2005 referendum on the European Constitution and some polls suggest the country is now more sceptical over continental cooperation than ever.