Voting is underway in the Netherlands for the 150 MPs who make up the lower house of parliament. Here’s how the day is unfolding.

Have your say in the Dutch News poll
Unable to vote because you are not Dutch but would like to have your say anyway? The traditional Dutch News poll is now open.

Shout out for Jan de Boer
The most common name on the ballot paper this year – which features 27 parties in most areas – is Jan, while De Boer is the most common surname.

There are, according to an analysis by ANP, 21 Jans on the list and eight De Boers (the farmer) – but none of them represent the pro-farming party BBB. Inge – with six mentions – is the most common name for a female candidate.

In total, there are 1166 people runing for parliament and over two-thirds of them have never tried to become an MP before.

Dick Schoof offers his cabinet’s resignation
Prime minister Dick Schoof formally offered his cabinet’s resignation to the king on Wednesday morning. The government had already been in caretaker status since the PVV withdrew from the coalition on 3 June.

In practice, nothing changes for now. Schoof and the remaining VVD and BBB ministers will continue to govern until a new cabinet is sworn in, a process that could take several months.

Utrecht’s residents vote early
By 10.30 on Wednesday morning, voter turnout in several major cities ranged from 12% to just over 18%, according to preliminary figures. Utrecht again recorded the highest early turnout, with more than 18% of voters having cast their ballots by mid morning.

In Groningen, just over 15% of voters had turned out by 10.30am, while Eindhoven reported around 14.5%. The figure was slightly lower in The Hague at over 13%, and in Rotterdam, just over 12% of eligible voters had voted by that time. Amsterdam will release its initial turnout report at 1pm.

Have your say in the Dutch News poll
Unable to vote because you are not Dutch but would like to have your say anyway? The traditional Dutch News poll is now open.

Party leaders cast their votes
Casting your vote is another photo opportunity for party leaders who have been out on the campaign trail for the past three weeks at least. CDA leader Henri Bontenbal voted in the Johanneskerk in Rotterdam, where he lives while far right leader Geert Wilders voted in The Hague’s city hall.

A church, a windmill
In total voters have the choice of 10,023 polling stations, ranging from schools and churches to shops, railway stations, museums and even a windmill.

Two of the Wadden Sea islands – Schiermonnikoog and Vlieland –  and the village of Rozendaal in Gelderland have just one polling station and compete every election to be the first to declare their results.

Some polling stations – including a student cafe in Zwolle and a museum in Arnhem – opened at midnight. All will be closed by 9pm

Polls show a neck and neck race
The final two opinion polls of the Dutch election campaign suggest Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV is faltering while the progressive-liberal D66 has surged into the top three.

The Verian poll by EenVandaag still puts the PVV in the lead but with 29 seats, down five in the last week and four ahead of GroenLinks-PvdA, who are unchanged on 25.  D66 are in third place after rising eight seats to 24, which would equal the party’s best-ever election result. The Christian Democrats (CDA) drop four seats to 19 while the right-wing liberal VVD are up one on 16.

The other voter survey by Ipsos I&O puts the PVV, GL-PvdA and D66 neck and neck on 23 seats, with the CDA on 19 and the VVD on 17. The changes are less dramatic, with the PVV down three seats, D66 and VVD up one and the CDA and JA21 down by one.

A centrist coalition of GL-PvdA, D66, CDA and VVD – four of the five parties who formed every cabinet from 1982 until 2023 – would have 84 seats on the Verian poll and 82 according to Ipsos.

That would give it a clear majority in parliament, but VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz is strongly opposed to joining a cabinet with Frans Timmermans’ party GL-PvdA.