Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is on track to win a fourth term in office on Wednesday, with his conservative party leading exit polls in elections dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Rutte's VVD party was projected to take 36 out of 150 seats in the lower house, a clear mandate to form a new coalition government. 

"I am extremely proud," Rutte said, as he called his fourth consecutive election victory "uplifting." 

"I note that the result of this election is that the voters of the Netherlands have given my party an overwhelming vote of confidence," Rutte told reporters in parliament. 

"The challenges ahead of us are enormous. In the coming weeks and months, we need to lead the country out of the corona crisis", said Rutte, who has been prime minister since 2010.

The pro-European Union, center-left D-66, led by former UN diplomat Sigrid Kaag, was seen coming in second with 27 seats, the best result in its 55-year history. 

The initial numbers from the poll indicated that Rutte would need to form a coalition with at least two other parties to get a majority of 76 seats in parliament. 

Despite the pandemic, voting turnout was 83 percent, about as high as four years ago. 

Official returns are expected to be released throughout the night and Thursday morning, with final results announced on March 26. 

Among major parties, the anti-Islam Freedom Party of lawmaker Geert Wilders was set to lose three seats to 17, the coalition member Christian Democrats drop five seats to 14 and Labor holding flat at nine. 

The largest three parties aside from the Freedom Party have enough seats to form a majority government, in a process Rutte said he aimed to finish as quickly as possible. 

(With input from Reuters, AFP)