The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch electoral committee on Friday fired the starting gun on next month's hotly contested elections, revealing a stunning 28 parties will jostle for votes.

A total of 81 parties -- from the establishment ruling Liberals of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to the more colourful such as the Pirate Party -- had registered to take part.

But the electoral committee revealed Friday that most had not met the criteria to do battle for a share of the 150-seat lower house of parliament.

"Twenty-eight parties will be taking part in the parliamentary elections on March 15," the committee announced.

The Dutch news agency ANP said it would set a post-World War II record, as the largest number of parties to compete in elections previously was in 1922, when there were 53 on the ballot.

The candidates will be seeking to woo some 12.6 million eligible Dutch voters, kicking off a key year of elections in Europe -- with presidential polls due in France in the spring and elections later in the autumn in Germany.

Amid the turbulence created by Donald Trump's surprise victory in the US elections and the rise of far-right and populist parties on the continent, the European votes will be closely watched as a bellwether for the continent's future political landscape.

Far-right anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) have been leading the Dutch opinion polls for months, leaving Rutte's Liberal party (VVD) trailing in second place.

A polls aggregate on Wednesday predicted Wilders would emerge with the largest party with 27-31 seats, with Rutte's party mustering just 23-27 seats.

Rutte's ruling coalition partners the Labour Party(PvdA) has seen its support drain away in recent months with the polls suggesting it may only win between 10 to 14 seats.

Such a result would see the largest parties scrabbling to cobble together the 76-seat majority needed to form a government.

Many parties have already ruled out any collaboration with Wilders, who has vowed to close mosques, ban the Koran and take The Netherlands out of the EU.

And analysts are predicting a period of intense haggling to form the next government, which may even lead to a five-party coalition, giving some of the country's smaller parties a souped-up kingmaker role.