A week today, Dutch voters will elect 150 new members for the lower house of parliament. Here’s a summary of the latest election campaign news.

New poll of polls

The latest edition of the poll of polls gives prime minister Mark Rutte’s VVD a clear lead over Geert Wilders and the PVV. The slight shift was prompted by the EenVandaag poll carried out after Sunday’s televised debate, in which Wilders did not take part.

The poll of polls puts The VVD on 24-28 seats and the PVV on 21-25. The Christian Democrats are in third place with 18 to 20 seats.

Long formation process

The fragmented nature of party support means a protracted cabinet formation process is likely, according to the Telegraaf.

Former CDA prime minister Dries van Agt, who was involved in the longest cabinet formation to date, believes his record of 208 days could be broken this time round. ‘You do not need the gift of prophecy to see that it could be very difficult again,’ he told the paper.

Former Labour leader Wouter Bos says he expects at least four parties will be needed. And unlike 2012, the leaders of bigger parties do not really trust each other as Rutte and Samsom did, he points out.

Most observers believe that the cabinet will be formed by the VVD, CDA and D66 plus one or more other parties, the paper said.

Left and green

The left-wing green party GroenLinks may have radical plans to counteract economic inequality and climate change, but these are not set in stone, leader Jesse Klaver says in an interview with website Nu.nl.

‘There are many different ways to realise these ends,’ Klaver said. ‘And that is something I am willing to discuss.’ At the same time, Klaver said he is not willing to compromise his principles. These, he said, involve ‘reducing inequality, ensuring equal treatment for everyone in the Netherlands and reducing climate change.’