New parliament to have 17 parties, equal to 1918 record

With 99.4 percent of votes counted, the new Dutch parliament will consist of 17 parties, four more than in 2017 and equal to the 1918 record, according to NU.nl. Four parties are completely new to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament.

The biggest party in the 1981 elections was Prime Minster Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck's RKSP, a Roman Catholic state party, which received 30 seats. In 2021, Mark Rutte's VVD is the largest party with 35 seats, according to the latest prognosis. This means that Rutte can set to work forming his fourth cabinet. Sigrid Kaag's D66 is in second place with 23 seats.

Annemarie Jorritsma of the VVD and Kajsa Ollongren of D66 were appointed the "pathfinders" or "scouts" that have to get the formation process started. On Monday, they will meet with the leaders of the other parties who might be asked to join a coalition. The hope is to form a new cabinet by summer.

New to parliament are parties JA21, set up by former far-right FvD members Joost Eerdmans and Annabel Naninga, pro-European party VOLT, farmers' movment BBB, and Sylvana Simons' pro-diversity and equality party BIJ1.