Dutch Railways chief appointed as coalition scout

THE HAGUE, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Railways chief and former government minister Wouter Koolmees was appointed on Tuesday as the scout in the Netherlands' coalition formation process, Parliament Speaker Martin Bosma announced.

Under Dutch parliamentary rules, the largest party in the newly elected House of Representatives nominates the first scout to hold exploratory talks with party leaders and gauge potential coalition alignments.

Although both the Democrats 66 (D66) and Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) secured 26 seats in the election, D66 received about 28,000 more votes, giving party leader Rob Jetten the right to nominate the scout.

Koolmees, who served as minister of social affairs and employment from 2017 to 2022 and as deputy prime minister from 2019 to 2020, is expected to submit his report by Nov. 11. Enditem