At least 926 votes cast by Dutch expats abroad in the general election arrived in The Hague too late to be counted, the Volkskrant reported on Tuesday.

The lost votes could, in theory, have made a difference to the final result, given D66 missed out on a 10^th seat by just 160 votes.

In total, 69,000 votes from abroad were included in the results. Some 108,000 Dutch expats abroad had registered to take part in the November 22 election.

Eelco Keij, chairman of the SNBN foundation, which represents the interests of Dutch nationals living abroad, has called for a change in the way foreign votes are collected.

“Voting online would be best, but there is no majority in favour if this,” he said. The foundation had urged foreign voters to vote by proxy to make sure their votes actually counted.

The GroenLinks/PvdA alliance emerged as the biggest party under Dutch expats, with 28.6% of the vote.

The VVD was in second place with 17.4% and NSC in third with 12.1%. D66, traditionally a popular party with expats, saw its share of the vote fall from 17.8% in 2021 to 10.5%. The PVV was unchanged on just over 6%.

Foreign expats in the Netherlands voted for a two-party coalition in Dutch News’ online poll, with the GroenLinks/PvdA alliance taking 40% of the vote, followed by the right-wing VVD on just over 13% and D66 on just under 13%.

The results mean the alliance and D66 or the VVD could form a majority government between them. In the Netherlands as a whole, three or four parties will be required to control 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament.

The far-right PVV, which scored 25% nationwide and wants a halt to all immigration as well as a Nexit, would also be the party of choice for 10% of DN poll participants.