THE HAGUE – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative party powered to a fourth consecutive election victory in a vote held during a nationwide lockdown and dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, near-complete results indicated Thursday.
The feat puts Rutte in pole position to begin talks to form the country's next ruling coalition, most likely with another big winner — the centrist, pro-European D66 party led by former diplomat Sigrid Kaag, who danced on a table Wednesday night when an exit poll showed her party recording one of its biggest-ever ballot box victories.
Rutte said voters had given his party “an overwhelming vote of confidence and it is humbling. It is also forcing us to do everything we can to make a success out of it." “T