Official Dutch results confirm win for Liberals
The Netherlands formally confirmed Tuesday the results of last week's general election won by ruling Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberals, as political horse-trading gathered pace to form a coalition government. The final tally from Wednesday's vote gave Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) a total of 33 seats in parliament, followed by 20 for anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) in a distant second place. The progressive D66 and Christian Democrats (CDA) both garnered 19 seats, followed by the rising GroenLinks (GreenLeft) and Socialist Parties, both with 14.