Dutch PM's party draws level with Wilders in latest polls

Three weeks before Dutch elections Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling Liberals are neck-and-neck with MP Geert Wilders' far-right party who previously dominated the polls, an aggregated survey showed on Wednesday. The Peilingwijzer survey -- which combines a number of polls in The Netherlands to get an average tally -- showed Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) would garner 24 to 28 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament. Rutte's VVD would capture between 23 to 27 seats should elections be held today, said the survey, an aggregate of six different political polls in the country. The margin of error was now so small that the two parties were virtually equal, public newscaster NOS said. In terms of percentages, the VVD are set for between 15.2 and 16.9 percent of the vote, while the PVV would garner between 15.8 and 17.6 percent. Dutch voters will flock to the polls on March 15 in a closely-watched election that could serve as a bellwether for polls to follow in France and in Germany later this year. Peilingwijzer on Wednesday said Rutte's VVD has maintained support levels in the last few weeks, but that the PVV has lost at least three seats over the last month. The NOS, quoting a study by polling company I&O Research, said the drop in seats could possibly be ascribed to the VVD's strategy to exclude Wilders from a ruling coalition. "Potential PVV voters may now think there's no point voting for a party that will not be ruling anyway," the NOS said. Rutte has vowed not to work with Wilders after comments he made in 2014 about Moroccans living in The Netherlands. Dutch courts in December convicted Wilders, a firebrand anti-Islam politician, of discrimination because of his statements. Wilders officially launched his campaign in a suburban town just outside Rotterdam on Saturday, again attacking some Moroccans he called "scum." mbr-jhe/cw