After the local vote, work begins on forming new council coalitions

Work is now beginning on putting together new local council coalitions following the elections earlier this week, in which D66 emerged as the winner in 12 of the 20 biggest Dutch cities.

Former finance minister Jan Kees de Jager has been charged with putting together a new Rotterdam council coalition by mayor Achmed Aboutaleb.

The appointment of De Jager, a Christian Democrat and Rotterdammer, has been welcomed by Leefbaar Rotterdam, the right-wing populist local party which is now the biggest in the port city.

Rotterdam had been led by Labour, but the party now only has eight seats on the council. Leefbaar Rotterdam has 14. The Socialists and D66 emerged as the second and third parties in the city.

D66

In Amsterdam, D66 leader Jan Paternotte is expected to announce who will carry out the process later on Friday. D66 toppled Labour in the Dutch capital and is by far the biggest party. Labour has dominated Amsterdam politics since 1946.

There are a number of potential coalitions in Amsterdam. The most obvious would be a D66-Labour combination. The VVD, which also lost seats, has expressed interest in an alliance with D66 and the PvdA, the Parool reports.

D66 is also the biggest party in The Hague and Utrecht and will take the lead in coalition forming there as well.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation