Mark Rutte favoured as virus-hit Dutch election reaches final day

Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the VVD Liberal party votes in the Dutch general election in The Hague, Netherlands, March 17, 2021. (Piroschka Van De Wouw/Pool via AP)

Voters practising social distancing are casting their ballots at thousands of polling stations across the Netherlands on the final day of a general election overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

School gyms, churches, museums and concert halls were pressed into service by authorities looking for polling booths where people could vote safely amid rising infection rates.