Despite making considerable gains in the March local elections, the pro-animal PvdD is not involved in any ongoing negotiations to form new council coalitions, the NRC said on Tuesday.

Sources told the NRC that local PvdD leaders have refused to make the compromises needed for inclusion in a coalition or have set down strict conditions which would have to be met.

The PvdD now has 33 local councillors, but even in Amsterdam, where the party’s support rose from one to three seats, it is not taking part in coalition talks.

According to local media, GroenLinks as the biggest party in Amsterdam opted to go for the Socialists, who lost support, after the PvdD called for a ban on the sale of live lobsters and fur at the city’s markets.

In Almere, where the party also has three seats, it was also cut out of coalition talks after two sessions, the paper said. In Heerlen, too, the PvdD was excluded from the talks because of a ‘lack of chemistry’.