January 9, 2026, 6:15 p.mJanuary 9, 2026, 6:15 p.m
Rob Jetten, party leader of the D66, on January 9th, 2025.Image: keystone
More than two months after the general election in the Netherlands, the left-liberal party D66 has agreed with Christian Democrats and right-wing liberals to form a minority coalition. The three parties announced this at a joint press conference. Since December, the D66, which won the election, has been negotiating with the other two about forming a coalition. The talks are scheduled to conclude at the end of January.
In the second chamber of parliament, however, the three parties only have 66 of the 150 seats. They now want to talk to the opposition about cooperation and hope for changing majorities. “It will be hard work for the new government,” said D66 parliamentary group leader Rob Jetten, the presumed new prime minister, at the Zwaluwenberg estate near Hilversum, “but we believe we can do it.”
The right-wing liberal VVD wanted to take a clearly right-wing course and therefore involve the radical right-wing party Ja21 in the coalition. But this met with resistance from the left-liberal D66. She had voted for a grand coalition with the red-green alliance GroenLinks-PvdA. But the VVD blocked that.
No collaboration with Wilders
In the election on October 29th, D66 became the strongest force and won 26 seats. But Parliament is highly fragmented and now has 15 parliamentary groups. The Netherlands has little experience with minority governments. Observers fear that such a government might not be stable.
The second strongest force in the parliamentary election was the radical right party PPV of the right-wing populist Geert Wilders. But all established parties had refused to work with him. The Wilders party was involved in government for the first time after the 2023 election. But the right-wing coalition of four parties collapsed after just eleven months. (sda/dpa)