What you need to know about the Netherlands' snap election this week

The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 for a snap election after a shaky ruling coalition collapsed due to a row over immigration.

The vote in the EU's fifth-largest economy and major global exporter will be closely watched in Europe, where far-right parties have made significant electoral gains.

Who's favorite?

Polls suggest the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders is likely to repeat its seismic election win from 2023 that sent shockwaves through Europe.

The anti-Islam and anti-EU Wilders is unlikely to become prime minister however, as the other parties have ruled out entering into coalition with the PVV.

Wilders is blamed for sparking the government's fall after withdrawing his party, complaining that the country's immigration policies were too lax.

This makes the race for second place vital, as the leader of the party that finishes runner-up will probably get a chance to try to form a coalition.

Currently running second is the left-leaning Groenlinks/PvdA led by former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, seen as a safe pair of hands with strong environmental credentials.

The rising star of Dutch politics, however, is the fresh-faced Henri Bontenbal, 42, whose centrist CDA party has rocketed in the polls to challenge for second.

Calling for an end to polarization, Bontenbal promises a return to "normal politics" after the Wilders-inspired chaos of recent years.

Dutch voters seem tired of their mud-slinging politicians – but with more than 40 percent saying they cannot make up their mind, the openness leaves it all to play for.

What are the main issues?

Housing, immigration, health, and cost of living, according to the EenVandaag poll, which regularly surveys Dutch voters on which topics matter most.

A long-running housing crisis in the country, which has one of Europe's highest population densities, consistently tops the list of voter concerns.

Immigration sits in second place, with the tracking survey showing it slightly less of a hot button issue than during the last election.

Healthcare is third, followed by criminality, and cost-of-living. Climate is one of the least critical issues for Dutch voters, the survey suggests.

Among international issues, voters say defense is their top concern, followed by the conflict in Ukraine, then the war in Gaza.

How does the vote work?

It's a crowded field of no fewer than 27 parties, each of which puts up a list of candidates fighting for 150 seats in parliament via a proportional voting system.

This means Dutch voters have to grapple with a massive sheet containing all the candidates, with the election still carried out by paper vote.

The total number of votes is divided by 150 and any party hitting the threshold (last election it was just under 71,000) wins a seat in parliament. Unlike in Germany there is no minimum representation.

Under the Dutch "Polder" system of government, no party is strong enough to win a 76-seat majority outright – so messy multi-party coalitions are formed to get to the magic number.

Coalition horse-trading starts immediately after the exit polls and often lasts many months. The last government took 223 days to be formed.

The leader of the party with the most seats gets the first crack at trying to form a government. Until a deal is clinched, caretaker PM Dick Schoof will stay in power.

Why early elections?

Wilders suddenly pulled out his PVV party from the ruling coalition on June 3, citing frustration with what he saw as the slow implementation of a tough immigration policy.

"I signed up for the strictest asylum policy, not for the downfall of the Netherlands," fumed the 62-year-old.

He had issued an ultimatum, threatening to torpedo the government if a 10-point plan to reduce immigration was not immediately implemented.

The three other coalition parties held crisis talks with Wilders in a bid to maintain the alliance, but these broke up just minutes after they began.

The leader of the liberal VVD party, Dilan Yesilgoz, summed up the anger felt by the coalition partners towards Wilders, describing the withdrawal as "super irresponsible."

"How can you do this to the Netherlands?" said Yesilgoz, who later ruled out ever governing with Wilders again.