Dutch leftists seen with surprise victory in EU vote: exit poll

PARIS: Dutch leftists scored a surprise victory to win the most seats in European Parliament elections Thursday, beating the party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and an upstart populist group, an exit poll said.

The Labour party of European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans was projected to win five seats out of the 26 allocated for the Netherlands, the Ipsos poll for public broadcaster NOS said.

Rutte´s Liberals were set to win four seats and the right-wing Forum for Democracy of populist leader Thierry Baudet was expected to win three seats, the poll said.