Exactly one week before the Dutch elections, it looks as though many voters have already made their choice. On Wednesday, the daily Maurice de Hond opinion poll showed that just three percent had changed their minds since Tuesday evening. The change is not big enough to alter the estimated distribution of seats in parliament.

With a win of 37 seats predicted, 16 more than it currently has, the conservative VVD remains the biggest party in the polls. This would put it nine seats ahead of its closest rival, the Labour Party, which is predicted to win 28 seats. If the elections were held today, the Labour Party would lose five seats.

The polls give the Christian Democrats 23 seats, 18 less than they now possess. Interestingly, the party appears not to be suffering from the news that its leaders have already resigned themselves to big losses and are looking for a successor to leader Jan Peter Balkenende.

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party is predicted to win 14 seats, twice as many as now, and is the fourth most popular party. The Socialist Party is next with 12 seats (it has 25 now), followed by Green Left with 11 (seven now), D66 with 11 (three now), the Christian Union with seven (six now), the rightwing religious SGP party with two (no change) and the Animal Rights Party with one (two now). Rita Verdonk’s Proud of the Netherlands is predicted to win no seats at all.

Around 4,000 people took part in the Maurice de Hond poll via the internet. The pollster noted that voters are becoming more certain of their choices. Two weeks ago, 69 percent of those questioned said they were (virtually) certain that they knew which party they would vote for. Since then the figure has grown to 76 percent. The percentage of those who say they still have absolutely no idea who they will vote for has, says the pollster, shrunk a little.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide