THE HAGUE, 17/01/03 - The Christian democrats (CDA) managed to add one extra Lower House seat to 39 in Maurice de Hond's daily polls yesterday. Labour (PvdA) held steady at the 42 seats it was also awarded on Wednesday.

According to De Hond, the conservatives (VVD) and Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) both lost one seat, leaving the VVD at 31 and LPF at 7. The leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and Socialist Party (SP) are still running at 7 and 13 seats respectively, while the center-left (D66) would obtain 5. Small orthodox Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP are unchanged at 4 and 2 respectively, with Liveable Netherlands (LN) not winning any of the 150 Lower House seats.

De Hond announced a novelty for the day of the elections. He will carry out one final poll next Wednesday and announce the results at 7 p.m., two hours before polling stations close. Competitors Interview NSS and NIPO call the plan "unorthodox" and "nonsensical" and think those going to vote after 7 p.m. will be influenced by it. Legally, however, nothing can be put in De Hond's way.