Dutch centrist liberals neck and neck in close finish with populist Wilders

Rob Jetten's D66 party celebrates but with most of the votes counted the result is too close to call.

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With almost 99% of votes counted, both D66 and Wilders' Freedom Party were heading for 26 seats in the 150-member parliament, a projection from Dutch news agency ANP said on Thursday.

Initial exit polls had put Jetten in the lead. "Millions of Dutch people have turned a page; they've said goodbye to a politics of negativity," he told supporters.

A downbeat Wilders had earlier conceded the result was not what he wanted, having lost 11 seats, but said he had still achieved his second best result ever.

But as the final results trickled in on Thursday, the race became so close that the lead flipped between the two frontrunners.