The leaders of the biggest political parties following Wednesday’s general election will visit Queen Beatrix today to outline their views on the formation of the next cabinet. The smaller parties will follow on Saturday.

The Queen has already consulted her senior advisors and the leaders of the Senate and Tweede Kamer about the choice of informateur – a senior statesman who will work on putting a new coalition government together.
A poll by Het Financieele Dagblad put former Christian Democrat prime minister Ruud Lubbers as favourite for the job.
A new coalition will have to be made up of at least three parties. The most widely discussed coalition so far is a grouping of the Christian Democrats (CDA), Labour (PvdA) and the orthodox Christians ChristenUnie. A CDA/PvdA/Socialist Party coalition is another option. The SP were the biggest winners in Wednesday’s vote, upping their seats in parliament from nine to 26.
Labour leader Wouter Bos is not prepared to join a coalition that does not include the SP because of the risk that the SP will win even more support if it becomes the main opposition party, ANP news agency reported on Friday, quoting Labour party insiders. This is likely to make coalition talks even more difficult.