The leader of the small Christian party ChristenUnie, which has six seats in parliament, will meet coalition negotiator Herman Tjeenk Willink for talks later on Wednesday, now his party is the only option for a majority cabinet.

The Labour party PvdA, the only other realistic option for a majority, has refused to come to the negotiating table, leaving ChristenUnie as the only candidate.

The party, which has six MPs and would give the coalition a majority of just one, was involved in the talks earlier. However, those talks collapsed because of disagreements with D66 about ethical issues such as assisted dying.

All the parties involved in the talks have said they prefer a majority cabinet, leading Tjeenk Willink to say last week that they must be prepared to compromise on some issues to achieve this.

The Netherlands has been without a government for over three months.

Opinion polls

Meanwhile, broadcaster NOS has published its first opinion poll round-up since the March 15 vote.

The poll, which is based on the results of five separate opinion polls, shows little shift in support for the main parties. ‘Things are often calm during a formation process,’ poll compiler Tom Louwerse said. ‘Voters are waiting to see what happens.’

The only significant result in the poll is an increase in support for the right-wing Eurosceptic Forum voor Democratie, which has two seats in parliament and could take up to five if there was a general election tomorrow.