Right-wing Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders could be blocked from power - despite topping the closing polls before the Dutch General Election.
The Netherlands is voting on Wednesday after its Government collapsed within a year of being elected to office.
Some 27 parties will be competing for 150 seats in Parliament - with exit polls expected at 8pm GMT today.
Mr Wilders's Party for Freedom (PVV) has led the polls for nearly two years on a hardline anti-migration platform.
He has vowed to close all the Netherlands' borders, shutter its asylum centres, and leave the UN Refugee Convention.
Mr Wilders has also pledged to deport all Ukrainian men to Ukraine, and Syrians returned to the Middle East.
In the run-up to the country's 2023 election, he had called for a ban on mosques, the Koran and Islamic schools - and a "Nexit" EU referendum. That helped propel the PVV to become the largest party for the first time in a landslide victory.
However, he backed down on some of his anti-Islam policies to enter into a coalition, under which he was barred from sitting in the Cabinet.
Mr Wilders's Party for Freedom (PVV) has led the polls for nearly two years
|REUTERS
"If I had been Prime Minister - which I earned as leader of the biggest party - then we would have rolled out that agenda," he said.
Today's election was triggered when his right-centre-right coalition collapsed after Mr Wilders pulled out over a lack of progress on pushing his asylum reforms into law.
One of his ex-coalition partners, centre-right VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz, claimed that Mr Wilders's "party exists as one man with a Twitter account and nothing more".
The PVV's 2025 manifesto has also been watered down since 2023, with a complete asylum ban in the Netherlands being reined in to a four-year halt.
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Centre-right VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz (pictured) claimed that Mr Wilders's 'party exists as one man with a Twitter account and nothing more'
|REUTERS
However, under his country's voting system, he could be barred from sweeping to power.
In the Netherlands, every 0.67 per cent of the nationwide vote yields one MP to sit in a 150-seat House of Representatives.
No single party ever wins a majority, and governments must win a confidence vote in a Parliament of 15 or more parties before taking office.
Like in France, a coalition could form to keep out Mr Wilders's PVV.
Under his country's voting system, Geert Wilders could be barred from sweeping to power
| PASome commentators now believe it is more important which party comes second than first, as it would be better-placed to form the next Government.
That could be the surging centre-left D66 party, whose leader Rob Jetten laid into Mr Wilders in the final Dutch TV debate before the election.
Voters "choose again tomorrow to listen to your grumpy hatred for another 20 years, or choose, with positive energy, to simply get to work and tackle this problem and solve it", Mr Jetten said.