Efforts by the incoming coalition to establish a minimum vote threshold to qualify for seats in parliament have failed, with every opposition party voting against the idea during Tuesday’s debate on the issue.

The three parties – D66, VVD and the CDA – wanted to investigate the option of introducing a threshold as part of their plans to strengthen the democratic process. There are currently 15 parties in the 150-seat parliament and six of them have three or fewer seats.

At present, a party qualifies for a seat in parliament if it wins 0.67% of the vote. The new coalition had wanted to look into the impact of introducing a higher limit.

However it was prevented from doing so before it could come to a vote by the ChristenUnie, which put forward a motion opposing any research.

Opposition parties said the research would be a waste of money and pointed to a report from 2018 which concluded that a higher threshold would go against Dutch democratic principles.

The vote – 66 to 84 – highlights the difficult position of the minority cabinet, which needs the support of at least one opposition party for all its proposals.