The Dutch right wing populist Freedom Party could take a total of five seats in the European Parliament. This would give him the same number of seats as the Christian Democrats, the senior partner in the Netherlands ruling coalition.

The electoral council announced the official election results on Thursday. In addition to the four seats Mr Wilders' party will be allocated, electoral council calculations show that the Freedom Party will receive the extra 26th Dutch seat if and when the treaty of Lisbon takes effect.

The Dutch lower house is in disagreement about the calculation method used to allocate the possible extra seat, as it will determine whether it goes to the Freedom Pary or the Animal Rights Party. The European Parliament has a total of 785 seats.

Geert Wilders, Freedom Party leader and MP, has himself been elected to the European Parliament. Although he was tenth on his party list, he received 334 thousand preferential votes, easily enough for him to win a seat. However, as he announced before the elections of 4 June, Mr Wilders will not be going to Brussels, but will remain an MP in The Hague.

The PVV is not the only party in which people were elected through preferential votes. Christian Democratic candidate (CDA) Ria Oomen, despite her low ranking on the list (25th), was also elected to the European Parliament.