THE HAGUE, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Dutch political parties Democrats 66 (D66), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) have reached a general coalition agreement on a minority government, Dutch media reported on Tuesday evening.
According to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, the details of the agreement have not yet been made public. Parliamentary groups still need to approve the deal, and an outline of the agreement is expected to be presented on Friday.
The prospective minority cabinet would fall well short of a majority in both chambers of parliament. The three parties together hold 66 seats in the House of Representatives, leaving them 10 seats short of a majority, while in the Senate they are 16 seats short.
A total of 27 parties contested the Dutch parliamentary election last October, with 15 securing seats in the House. D66 and the Party for Freedom (PVV) each won 26 seats, followed by the VVD with 22 seats and the Green Left-Labor alliance (GroenLinks-PvdA) with 20. The CDA and JA21 secured 18 and nine seats, respectively. ■
