Populist Dutch politician Geert Wilders' right-wing party scored big in European elections held in the Netherlands on Thursday. The Party for Freedom is now the second largest Dutch party in Brussels, with the far left having made gains as well.

 Geert Wilders (left) celebrates the European election results with his party colleague Barry Madlener on Thursday night. Geert Wilders and his populist Party for Freedom (PVV) appeared to be the big winners of Thursday's elections for European Parliament in the Netherlands. Exit polls released soon after the Dutch voting stations closed at 9 p.m. on Thursday evening predicted he would get four of the 25 Dutch seats in the European Parliament, making the PVV the second largest of all Dutch parties in Brussels.

Wilders, who has become popular in the Netherlands running on an anti-Islam and anti-political establishment platform, promised voters he would be tough on immigration and criticized Turkey's bid to join the EU. "Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says, it is an Islamic country, so no, not in 10 years, not in a million years," Wilders said.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European commission on Friday asked the Dutch authorities for clarification regarding the publication of preliminary results in the Netherlands ahead of 7 June, when the results of all 27 member states are supposed to be announced.

Dutch media cited preliminary results on Thursday evening after the Netherlands closed its ballot boxes, indicating an unexpected boost of the far-right, which came in second with almost 17 percent of the votes, while the ruling Christian-Democratic party came in first with 20 percent.

Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende's centre-right party came out first, according to the preliminary results

The Dutch, along with the UK, were the first to go to the polls, with the Irish and Czechs voting today (5 June) and the rest of the member states over the weekend. Results are supposed to be announced at 10pm on Sunday.

"There is a ban on the publication of any results ahead of 7 June, be they preliminary, partial or complete. These results cannot be released to the media or pollsters until the elections. This does not prevent the media to take stock and publish private exit polls", EU commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said at a press conference on Friday.

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A humiliating day of local election results was expected to culminate tonight with confirmation that Labour no longer controls a single county council in England.

The party lost Derbyshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire to the Conservatives after two decades of control in the Midlands and the North West. Nottinghamshire also looked likely to fall tonight.