Dutch election: Far-right candidate Geert Wilders slips to second place in poll

Geert Wilders is within a whisker of leading the largest party in the Dutch parliament (Reuters)

The party of far-right Dutch candidate Geert Wilders has slipped to second place in the Peilingwijzer poll of polls with two weeks to go until a parliamentary election.

Wilders was on 15.7 per cent, behind the conservative VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the first time since November. Rutte's party was on 16.3 per cent, the poll aggregator said in an update published on Wednesday.

The Dutch election is the first of three elections in European Union founder members this year, with anti-EU parties in France and Germany also hoping security and immigration worries will help them to electoral gains that could reshape the continent and its politics.

Reuters