Dutch centre and centre-right parties to start talks on forming government


Democrats 66 (D66) party leader Rob Jetten gestures while addressing supporters following the exit poll and early results in the Dutch parliamentary elections in Leiden, Netherlands, October 29, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

AMSTERDAM, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Three Dutch centre and centre-right parties will start trying to form a government together, government negotiator Sybrand van Haersma Buma said on Monday.

The parties are election winner D66, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDA) and the pro-business VVD Party.

Buma added that they would either form a minority government together or a majority government with the addition of another party, as yet unknown.

The three-party minority coalition would hold 66 seats in the 150-seat lower house and would need to seek support for its policies on a case-by-case basis.

"This next phase is meant ... to further explore how broad support can be secured," Buma said.

"That broad support may be found in either an incidental or a structural form in a minority cabinet with agreements, but also in a majority arrangement. That option is still on the table as well."

The Netherlands is usually run by majority coalitions that agree on a detailed government pact before they are installed.

While Geert Wilders' PVV party finished a close second at the last election, all major mainstream parties have ruled out governing with him after he brought down the last coalition, led by his PVV.

Adding the Greens-Labour party GL-PvdA to a coalition of VVD, D66 and CDA would secure a majority - but in the run-up to the election, VVD ruled out governing with GL-PvdA.

GL-PvdA leader Jesse Klaver has expressed disappointment in Dutch media that his party has been excluded from the government formation talks so far.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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