Rotterdam coalition talks continue without election winner

Over two months after the municipal elections in March, Rotterdam still doesn't have a new city government. Coalition talks now started between the VVD, D66, GroenLinks, PvdA and ChristenUnie-SGP. Leefbaar Rotterdam, which came out as the biggest party in the city after the elections, is not part of the negotiations, NOS reports.

The six parties together have 23 seats on the municipal council, the smallest possible majority on a council with 45 seats. Previous negotiations stranded when GroenLinks, PvdA and D66 could not agree to forming a coalition with Leefbaar and VVD.

The VVD announced that it started negotiations with the CDA, D66, GroenLinks, PvdA and ChristenUnie-SGP to "put an end to the impasse in the coalition formation in Rotterdam", according RTL Nieuws. According to the liberals, they worked on a combination of two left- and two right-wing parties, including Leefbaar, but no majority could be reached. As a result, " a completely left-wing coalition" threatened and that would not meet the needs of the city, according to the VVD. 

Leefbaar Rotterdam chairman Joost Eerdmans is disappointed that his party is being left out. "From day 1 onwards, left-wing Rotterdam did not want to talk to us and now they are definitely screwing the 47,312 Leefbaar voters. Exclusion is the new connection", he said on Twitter.