The Netherland's caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is heading toward his fourth term in office, as elections in the country draw to a close at 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, despite resigning from the role last month in the wake of the child benefit fraud scandal.

Voters cast their ballots at bike-through polling stations and museums across three days starting on Monday, in order to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

Current polling data show Rutte's center-right People's party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) winning 25 percent of the votes, securing the party more than its current 32 parliamentary seats and confirming VVD as the leading party in the country.

The next biggest party, the anti-Islam Freedom party (PVV) of Geert Wilders, follows the VVD with almost half the votes, at 13 percent.

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The traditional fragmented political framework in the Netherlands, which is considered to be a characteristic of the country's pure proportional representation system, means Rutte will have to seek at least three coalition partners to secure a majority to form a new government, an operation that could take weeks.

The Christian Democrats (CDA), the liberal-progressive D66 and Christian Union, Rutte's current coalition partners, should win between 16 and 18 seats, 14 to 16, and seven seats respectively out of the total of 150 seats available in parliament.

Other big parties, like the Green Left, the Labour party (PvdA) and the Socialist party are expected to win between 11 and 13 seats each.

Further from the front-runners, smaller parties hope to make a gain at this election. Dutch voters had a choice between a total of 37 parties, with 15 expected to win at least one seat in parliament.

The VVD has ruled out working with PVV, the performance of which at this election political observers are watching closely. But the party led by Geert Wilders may have suffered this year, as the pandemic has pushed the topic of immigration further down the current political agenda.

Despite the controversial measures introduced by Rutte's government to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country, such as the nighttime curfew, and the recent scandal over childcare fraud that led to the resignation of Rutte and his entire cabinet, the VVD has not lost support since the 2017 elections. Rutte has shrugged off all criticisms, confirming his nickname "Teflon Mark."

Since 2010, Rutte has led three different coalition governments. An electoral victory this year would make him the country's longest-serving leader.