Dutch leader Mark Rutte has won the country's general election and said Geert Wilders' defeat meant 'after Brexit and Trump' the country's voters had rejected the 'wrong kind of populism'.

Mr Rutte, who has won a historic third term as prime minister, has also refused to work with far-right leader Wilders despite his PVV party coming second.

Speaking last night a jubilant Rutte, who leads the liberal VVD party, said: 'The Netherlands, after Brexit and Trump, said "Whoa!" to the wrong kind of populism.'

In response Mr Wilders called his comments 'very worrying, as if populists are semi-Nazis'.

He added: 'Rutte has not seen the back of me.'

Defeat: Far-right MP Geert Wilders (pictured last night) has lost Holland's General Election to a delighted Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who said the country had rejected the 'wrong kind of populism'

Response: Mr Wilders, pictured after the election results came in, called his comments 'very worrying, as if populists are semi-Nazis'

With most votes counted for the 150-seat legislature early Thursday, Rutte's VVD has 33 seats, eight fewer than in 2012. The far-right populist Party for Freedom of Wilders is second with 20 seats, five more than the last time but still a stinging setback.

The loss represented a decrease of nine seats for Rutte and an increase of seven seats for Wilders.

The anti-Islam politician has previously promised to deliver a Nexit, a Dutch version of Brexit, and a 'patriotic revolution' to the Dutch people.

Mr Wilders campaigned on radical pledges to close borders to migrants from Muslim nations, close mosques, ban the Koran and take the Netherlands out of the EU.

Disappointed: Mr Wilders said he had hoped to be Dutch PM but added: 'Rutte has not seen the back of me'

Wilders has remained upbeat about the future of the PVV.

He tweeted: 'We won seats! The first victory is in! And Rutte hasn't seen the last of me!'

He later said: 'I'd preferred to have been the winner of the elections, but the VVD have lost 10 seats and we're among the winners in second.

'If all the losers like the VVD form a government, we need to have a strong opposition of winners like the PVV.'

His Party For Freedom had won 15 seats on the previous general election in 2012, with support reaching its peak in 2015, but his seats dwindled to just 12 before Wednesday's vote.

Speaking as he cast his vote today, he said: 'Whatever the outcome of the election today, the genie will not go back into the bottle. And this patriotic revolution, whether today or tomorrow, will stay.'

Rutte's junior partner in the outgoing coalition, Labour, suffered its worst ever result at the election, winning just nine seats, down from 38 last time.

Pictured: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte celebrates the results of exit polls showing his party had won the country's General Election

Rutte said his victory was a sign the Netherlands had said: 'That's enough of the wrong sort of populism'. Comments Wilders said treated his supporters like 'semi-Nazis'

Rutte - who has vowed never to work alongside Wilders - will now attempt to form a coalition government and could possibly turn to the CDA and the D66.

A coalition could take weeks or even months, with at least three other parties needed to reach a majority in parliament.

The PM said: 'It seems like for third time in a row the VVD is the Netherlands biggest party.

'Our message to the Netherlands - that we will hold our course, and keep this country safe and stable - got though.'

WHO WILL FORM THE COALITION? It could take months for the parties to form a coalition government, so the exact outcome of the election will not be known for some time yet. As the leader of the party with the greatest share of the votes - a predicted 33 seats - the VVD's Mark Rutte will be invited to form a government first. That means Rutte, who has already served two terms as Prime Minister, must bring together enough other parties to meet the 76-seat majority But his long-time coalition partners the Labour Party - affiliated with the center-left British Labour party - won't be much use this time around. They have gone from 38 seats in the last election to just nine this time around. That means he'll likely need to get at least three more parties in line to collect the seats needed to form a majority government. The liberal/conservative party leader will walk straight past anti-Islam and anti-EU firebrand Geert Wilders and the 20 seats his PVV party scored, having denounced his politics as 'the wrong sort of populism'. Wilders has said that he would be happy to enter negotiations, but all of the major parties have refused to deal with him. Instead Rutte is most likely to make a beeline for the next two biggest parties - the moderate Christian Democratic Appeal and progressive direct-democracy campaigners Democracy 66, both of whom are expected to have 19 seats. That will only take him up to 71 seats, however. So he may look to GreenLeft, the 25-year-old party that has had a phenomenal rise in popularity this election under the control of 30-year-old Jesse Klavier. The progressive group - formed from a merger of Communist, pacifist, socialist and Christian parties - has gone from four to 16 seats this year. With some of the biggest rallies of the campaign, and celebrated TV debates - including much-publicised clashes with Wilders - he could make a sensible popular left choice for Rutte. Advertisement

Officials in France and Germany - both of whom have elections to fight against resurgent right-wing opposition later in the year - rushed to praise the result as a victory for middle-ground parties.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is set to make France's presidential election run-off in May, while the Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany is likely to enter the German federal parliament for the first time in a September election.

French President Francois Hollande welcomed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's election victory over anti-Islam, anti-EU leader Geert Wilders, as did the man who hopes to beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen and take Hollande's place in a vote next May.

Hollande, near the end of his five-year term, on Thursday congratulated Rutte on the centre-right premier's unexpectedly sizeable score and lead over Wilders in a Dutch election closely watched by Europe ahead of France's presidential ballot.

'The President warmly congratulates Mark Rutte for his clear victory against extremism,' Socialist politician Hollande said in a statement.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron, tipped by most polls to end up in a second-round runoff against Le Pen, who leads France's anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front party, offered congratulations on social network Twitter.

'The Netherlands is showing us that a breakthrough for the extreme right is not a foregone conclusion and that progressives are gaining momentum,' said the 39-year-old presidential contender, who pledges to modernise French politics and transcend traditional left-versus-right divisions.

Rutte's victory may hearten mainstream political leaders in a battle with Le Pen, who wants to ditch the euro and restore France's franc currency.

Opinion polls show Le Pen winning the first round of the election in April, but then losing a decisive second round vote in May to whichever of Macron or conservative candidate Francois Fillon makes it to the May 7 runoff. Polls now show Macron far more likely to get to the runoff than Fillon.

This year's elections saw the highest turnout in the past 31 years, with 82 per cent of people going out to vote, according to Ipsos.

Pictured: The results of the General Election compared to seats won in 2012

It is believed the Rutte took lead because of his tough stance during the Dutch government's recent row with Turkey.

The PM got a last-minute boost from the diplomatic dispute, which allowed him to take a well-timed tough line on a majority Muslim country during an election campaign in which immigration and integration have been key issues.

The spat did not hurt the chances of Denk, a party supported by Dutch Turks, which looked set to win three seats, becoming the first ever ethnic minority party, in a possible sign of deepening ethnic division.

But while Rutte averted what in the early stages of the campaign looked like a possible victory for Wilders, years of austerity pushed down his share of the vote.

Margaritis Schinas, spokesperson for the EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he had spoken to Rutte and congratulated him on his victory.

Mr Juncker added that it was a: 'A vote for Europe, a vote against extremists.'

The defeat for Wilders has also been welcomed by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

A spokesman tweeted a message on her behalf to the Dutch PM saying: 'I look forward to working with you as friends, neighbours and Europeans.'

GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD): 32 seats - the liberal/ conservative party of PM Mark Rutte Party For Freedom (PVV): 19 - Geert Wilders' anti-immigrant, anti Muslim party Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA): 19 - moderate pro-religion party Democracy Party (D66): 19 - liberals who want direct democracy Green Left (GL): 15 - mixture of far-left and Greens Socialist Party (SP): 14 - further to the left of Labour Labour Party (PvdA): 9 - social democratic party, sister party of British Labour Christian Union: 6 - conservative religious party Party for the Animals (PvdD): 5 - animal rights and welfare party Reformed Political Party (SGP): 3 - Protestant party, oldest in Netherlands Denk: 3 - anti-racist Labour offshoot formed by two Turkish-Dutch politicians Forum for Democracy (FvD): 2 - fights against political system status quo Advertisement

Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, also posted his delight at the prediction that Wilders would lose.

He tweeted in Dutch: 'Netherlands you are a champion! Congratulations on this great result!

Germany faces parliamentary elections in September, in which the anti-immigration, eurosceptic Alternative for Germany party, allied with Wilders, is hoping to enter the Berlin federal parliament for the first time.

The results have been welcomed by former president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who tweeted: 'We must continue to fight for an open and free Europe.'

Mabel Berezin, professor of sociology at Cornell University in the United States, said defeat for Wilders, who has been in parliament for nearly two decades, should not be considered a sign that European populism is waning.

'He does not represent a populist wave. Rather, he is part of the political landscape and how his party fares does not tell us much about European populism,' she said.

'The real bellwether election will be Marine Le Pen's quest for the French presidency, starting April 23 that is where the populist action is and that is what we should be focusing upon.'

In a subplot of the elections, the Green Left party were set to register a historic victory, turning it into the largest party on the left wing of Dutch politics for the first time.

DUTCH ELECTIONS: WHO'S WHO VVD (People's Party for Freedom) – liberal/conservative, led by PM Mark Rutte. PVV (Party for Freedom) – anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, led by Geert Wilders PvdA (Labour Party) – social democratic party, sister party of British Labour Party SP (Socialist Party) – further to the left of Labour CDA (Christian Democrats) - moderate, pro-religion D66 (Democrats 66) – liberals, support direct democracy, founded in 1966 GL (Green Left) – upcoming alliance of far-Left and Greens, led by Jesse Klaver Advertisement

The Greens leapt from four seats to 15 in parliament after a strong campaign by charismatic leader Jesse Klaver, who invites comparisons to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

'This is a fantastic result for us, a historic victory,' Green Left chairwoman Marjolein Meijer said.

Europe Votes – What Comes Next? French President election: April 23 and May 7 German parliamentary election: September 24 Advertisement

It remains to be seen if the 30-year-old Klaver will take his party into the next ruling coalition, which looks likely to be dominated by Rutte's VVD and other right-leaning parties.

Because of the result, it also looked unlikely that Labour leader Dijsselbloem would be able to hang on to his post of leading the 19-nation Eurogroup, which manages the currency of the European Union nations that use the euro.

Queues began swelling early at the polls today and the research institute IPSOS said turnout was already 'a lot' higher than at the same point in 2012 when final participation was 74 per cent.

Amid the tussle between Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Wilders, many of the 12.9 million eligible voters had been wavering between the 28 parties running.

'Netherlands does not belong to all. Do you hear me? The Netherlands belongs to the Dutch,' Wilders said in Tuesday's debate.

In the same debate, Rutte said: 'When people look for leadership, they look to me.'

As he voted today, he said: 'This is a crucial election for The Netherlands.

'This is a chance for a big democracy like The Netherlands to make a point... to stop this... domino effect of the wrong sort of populism.'

Rutte - who has vowed never to work alongside Wilders - will now attempt to form a coalition government and could possibly turn to the CDA and the D66

Before the election, Wilders vowed: 'This patriotic revolution, whether today or tomorrow, will stay'

WHO IS GEERT WILDERS? Geert Wilders founded the right-wing Party For Freedom in 2006 and rallied against what he saw as the 'Islamification' of the Netherlands. Wilders, who has led his party in four elections, has vowed to confiscate Korans, close mosques and Islamic schools, shut Dutch borders and ban migrants from Islamic countries among a raft of other anti-Islamic moves. His policies have seen him receive a barrage of death threats and reportedly leaving him forced to wear a bullet proof vest around the clock. After working in health insurance, he ventured into politics and first took public office at Utrecht City Council in 1997 for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. However, he left the VVD - now led by current Dutch PM Mark Rutte - in 2004, after it supported Turkey's accession to the European Union. Wilders was temporarily banned from visiting the UK by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009, after he released a offensive film linking the Koran to terrorism. In December last year, he was found guilty of discrimination against Moroccans after comments he made during an election rally in 2014. Wilders found himself at the centre of controversy again in 2015, after he attended a 'draw the prophet Muhammad' contest in Dallas, US, and it was attacked by two gunmen. The politician was a guest speaker at the event, attended by 150 people, when the shooters opened fire. They were later shot dead by police. Advertisement

Wilders' one-page election manifesto included pledges to close borders to immigrants from Muslim nations, shuttering mosques and banning the Koran

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has framed the election as a choice between continuity and chaos, portraying himself as a safe custodian of the nation's economic recovery

Following the vote in the Netherlands (above), the French go to the polls next month with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen currently in second place behind centrist Emmanuel Macron