The prime minister's party won the most seats in elections in the Netherlands Wednesday, but the unofficial results indicated that the gridlock that has recently plagued the Dutch parliament could continue.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Balkenende's Christian Democrats won 41 seats, nine more than the Labour Party, according to the unofficial late results, with 94 per cent of the vote counted. Official results are not expected until Monday.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Balkenende celebrates the parliamentary election results in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday.
(Fred Ernst/Associated Press)

Balkenende said he was pleased with the results and pledged to "build on the foundation we laid."

But the finance minister of the Liberal party, the Christian Democrats' coalition partner, wasn't nearly as sanguine.

"It's chaos," said Gerrit Zalm. "It is extremely difficult to distil a government out of these results."

Unless a workable coalition can be forged, Balkenende's government could again face the prospect of resignation before the end of the four-year term.

It could also mean the cabinet will have difficulty proceeding with a recent proposal to outlaw wearing the burka — a traditional full-body garment that hides the face except for a small region around the eyes.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk had argued the law forbidding donning burkas on streets, trains, schools, buses and courts of law would promote social integration because everyone would be able to identify each other easily. But the decision ignited a civil rights debate and underscored a hardened attitude towards Muslims.

About six per cent of the Dutch population is Muslim.

The last opinion polls had the Labour party trailing the Christian Democrats by only four seats in the 150-seat parliament, down from the 10-seat gap a week earlier.

Aside from the burka controversy, Labour Leader Wouter Bos got a boost after the government acknowledged media reports that the Dutch military abused and tortured dozens of Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion.

Balkenende, 50, was widely judged to have won a TV debate, in which he emphasized the Netherlands' economic improvement.

"We have been very successful during the last years.... We were behind in Europe and now we are really one of the front-runners," he told reporters in English. "I am very proud of the results and I really hope that people will recognize this."

The early election was originally scheduled for May 2007, but was called after the Christian Democrats and VVD alliance collapsed in June over a dispute on immigration policy.