THE HAGUE, 05/03/10 - The Party for Freedom (PVV), centre-left D66 and local parties have emerged as the big winners in the local council elections. The biggest loser in an absolute sense was Labour (PvdA), but the moral losers were the Christian democrats (CDA).

The turnout at Wednesday's elections was a historic low. Only 53.6 percent of the electorate went to the polling stations, where the figure was 58.3 percent in the previous elections in 2006.

The CDA was only the third party in size. Both PvdA and the conservatives (VVD) won more votes. If local parties are counted as one, the CDA was only the fourth biggest party. Additionally, the CDA might also have been overshadowed by the PVV, which only ran in two municipalities.

The PVV made a meteoric entry. The party came second to the PvdA in The Hague and was the biggest in Almere. Despite this historic result, PVV victories in both towns had been predicted by some polls.

The PVV won 21,6 percent of the vote in Almere. PvdA came second with 17.6 percent. In The Hague, the roles were reversed, with 21.1 percent for the PvdA and 16.9 percent for the PVV.

After 99 percent of the votes were counted - a number of results were not yet in yesterday afternoon - the CDA received an average of 14.9 percent of the votes nationwide, down from 17.1 percent in 2006. This would translate into just 22 Lower House seats, much fewer than in the national polls.

The PvdA saw an enormous drop from 23.2 percent in 2006 to 15.6 percent. But an even bigger loss had been expected. Playing a role is the fact that the PvdA was at a historic high four years ago.

The PvdA remained slightly bigger than the VVD. This party boosted its share of the vote from 13.6 percent in 2006 to 15.5 percent, which would translate into about 23 seats in the Lower House.

Among the other parties, D66 was the big winner. It made a giant step from 2.7 to 8.0 percent. The leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) could also be pleased with growth from 5.8 to 6.5 percent.

The SP was a big loser. It shrank from 5.4 to 4.1 percent, translating into only 7 seats in the Lower House. The party currently has 25 seats there.

The VVD, which was expected to benefit markedly from the PVV's limited participation, only did so to a limited extend. The CDA however proved to be even less of an alternative for PVV voters. Also, the low turnout appears to indicate that many PVV voters stayed home.

Additionally, PVV votes probably often went to local parties. Added together, these were in combination the biggest party with 21.3 percent, up from 16.9 percent in 2006. In that election, the local parties had already made a big advance compared with 2002.

Proud of the Netherlands (TON) probably also snapped up PVV voters. The party of former Integration Minister Rita Verdonk won just 1.2 percent but it only ran in 41 municipalities and won a total of over 50 council seats there. In Den Helder, TON was even the second-biggest party.

The Party for the Animals (PvdD), which has two seats in the Lower House, did very well. It may only have won 0.3 percent of the vote nationwide, but it only ran in six municipalities. The PvdD won seats in all of these (Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Apeldoorn, Leiden and the village of Buren).

The National Muslim Party (NMP) did not succeed in capturing a seat in any of the seven municipalities in which it was running. In Tilburg, Almere, Alkmaar, The Hague, Rotterdam, Woerden and Noordoostpolder, Muslims likely opted as expected for established parties such as PvdA, GroenLinks and D66.

No extreme right parties ran in the elections - though some consider the PVV should be counted as one.