00.50: DutchNews.nl’s coverage of the provincial elections will resume in the morning, when the final results should be known.

In the meantime, you can follow the rest of the results coming in via Nos.nl.

00.48: With 47% of the vote counted, the results would translate into 13 senate seats for the VVD, 12 for the CDA, 10 for D66 and nine for the SP and PVV.

00.29: D66 and the VVD level pegging in The Hague with 18.1% support. PVV third with 15.3%.

00.20: D66 is the biggest party in Amsterdam with over 20% of the vote while Labour’s support is down again. The PVV has also lost support in the Dutch capital, and is on 7.7%.

23.54: Prime minister Mark Rutte addresses the VVD: ‘90% of VVD voters want this coalition to continue and that is what we are going to do.’

23.48: The Financieele Dagblad says Dutch politics have become so splintered the country needs to reform its political system to remain governable.

23.39: The Christian Democrats have overtaken the PVV to become the biggest party in Geert Wilders’ home town.

23.12: A preliminary count in Rotterdam puts the PVV as the biggest party with 17% support, down almost two percentage points on the European elections. D66 and the VVD both have 14%. Turnout in the port city was just 35%.

22.55: Labour leader Diederik Samsom says the party’s results are disappointing but not unexpected. ‘Our battle continues,’ he told Labour supporters in Amsterdam. ‘We lost but we have not been beaten.’

22.30: Social affairs minister and deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher (Labour), has congratulated the SP. ‘The SP, as the biggest left-wing party, must now show its influence. I am open to an alliance,’ he said.

22.17: Various media have quoted Labour’s finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk as saying party leader Diederik Samsom is not at risk because of the poor results.

21.59: The Parool quotes PVV leader Geert Wilders as saying the results are ‘disappointing’, and that the PVV has been hurt by the low turnout.

21.45: Turnout slumps from 55% in 2011 to 49%, exit poll suggests

21.41: Updated exit poll cuts PVV support, anti-Islam party poised to lose two senate seats. D66 support set to double from five to 10.

21.35: Exit poll puts PVV support on 11%, down from 12.4% four years ago, and down from 13.2% in the European elections last May

21.30: The first exit poll of the provincial election evening puts the ruling VVD Liberals and the Christian Democrats level with Labour and the PVV losing support.

The poll, based on samples taken at 43 different polling stations, gives the VVD and CDA both 12 seats in the senate. The Socialists are on target to win 10 senate seats, while D66 and the PVV would both take nine.

D66 is the biggest gainer in the exit poll, with an increase of four. Labour is the biggest loser, down six seats to eight, but this is in line with expectations, Labour chairman Hans Spekman told broadcaster Nos. The VVD is also down four seats and the PVV down one.

Provinces

Dutch voters went to the polls to vote for members of the 12 provincial councils on Wednesday in what is seen as a key test of government support.

The provincial council members vote for the 75 members of the senate in May, so the results of the provincial vote determine the make-up of the upper house.

The provisional results show the government will be hard pressed to find a majority in the upper house for its more controversial policies.

The exit poll indicates the coalition plus three friendly opposition parties can only count on 34 seats in the senate, 4 short of a majority.