Amid unprecedented international attention, the Dutch went to the polls Wednesday in a parliamentary election that is seen as a bellwether for the future of populism in a year of crucial votes in Europe.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte claimed a dominating victory over anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, who failed the year's first litmus test for populism in Europe.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, laughs while talking to supporters during an election event in Wormerveer, Netherlands, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Provisional results with over half the votes counted suggested Rutte's party won 32 seats in the 150-member legislature, 13 more than Wilders' party, which took only third place with 19 seats. The surging CDA Christian Democrats claimed 20.

Following Britain's vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, "the Netherlands said, 'Whoa!' to the wrong kind of populism," said Rutte, who is now poised for a third term as prime minister.

"We want to stick to the course we have — safe and stable and prosperous," Rutte added.

A damaged election poster showing firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, is displayed on a billboard in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, March 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, second right, surrounded by police officers and security guards as he waves to supporters during a campaign stop in Heerlen, Netherlands, Saturday, March 11, 2017. Wilders’ party is campaigned under the slogan “The Netherlands, Ours Again”. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A supporter of firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, left, pushes a man shouting anti-Wilders' slogans and holding a banner as Wilders campaigns in Heerlen, Netherlands, Saturday, March 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Wilders, who campaigned on radical pledges to close borders to migrants from Muslim nations, close mosques, ban the Quran and take the Netherlands out of the EU, had insisted that whatever the result of the election, the kind of populist politics he and others in Europe represent aren't going away.

"Rutte has not seen the back of me," Wilders said after the results had sunk in.

His Party for Freedom clinched 24 seats in 2010 before sinking to 15 in 2012, and Wednesday's total left him with about 12 percent of the electorate, far less than populists in Britain and the United States have scored.

"Those are not the 30 seats we hoped for," Wilders told reporters early Thursday, adding that he'd "rather have been the biggest party."

Both France and Germany have elections this year in which far-right candidates and parties are hoping to make an impact.

Muslim men pray in a mosque in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, March 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An elderly woman casts her ballot for the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An elderly woman rides her bicycle after casting her ballot for the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a cafe in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A boy stands next to his mother as she fills out her ballot prior to casting her vote for the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An elderly woman waits her turn to receive her ballot prior to casting her vote for Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A child sits in his seat as his mother fills out her ballot prior to casting her vote for the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A woman casts her ballot for Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Klaas Dozeman, 65, right, and his wife Jantje, 58, of Netherlands, pose for a photo after casting their ballots for the Dutch general elections outside a polling station set up in a school in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

People fill out ballots prior to casting their votes for the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a school in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Dutch men work on the rooftop of a home in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An elderly woman holds her ballot prior to casting her vote in the Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in a cafe in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An elderly Dutch woman hangs her laundry in front of her home in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Klaas de Haan, 69, right and his wife Aaltje, 67, left, of Netherlands pose for a picture after casting their ballots for the Dutch general elections inside a polling station set up in the city hall in Staphorst, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A woman fills out her ballot prior to casting her vote for Dutch general elections at a polling station set up in the living room of a home in Marle, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Text from the AP news story, Dutch PM Rutte claims win over 'wrong kind of populism', by Mike Corder and Raf Casert.

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