Christian Democrat Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has claimed victory in the Netherlands general election, saying that his party has again become the biggest group in parliament.
The country has been in the international spotlight over its struggle with immigration and integration issues following the murder of populist leader Pim Fortuyn in 2002, and the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim radical in 2004.
But those issues were not central to the campaign.
Even the current government's proposed 'burqa ban' and allegations of torture in Iraq by Dutch troops which made headlines elsewhere do not appear to have been crucial to the voters.
