The ceremony came after a record-breaking coalition formation process following the March 17 general election.

Mark Rutte introduced his new team one-by-one to the king before they were formally sworn in by agreeing to the oath of office.

The new cabinet cabinet includes 20 ministers and nine secretaries of state representing four parties, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Democrats 66 (D66), the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Christian Union (ChristenUnie).

The third Rutte cabinet had resigned in January 2021 because of a report on the Dutch childcare benefits scandal. Because the election of March 2021 took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, parties wanted a short cabinet formation.

Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Mark Rutte even suggested dividing the formation into two parts, with parties first collectively working on a recovery plan for the Covid crisis.

During the campaign, some parties already expressed preferences for coalition partners. Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and VVD ruled out cooperation with the radical-right parties Party for Freedom (PVV) and Forum for Democracy (FvD). VVD explicitly indicated that it wanted to govern with CDA.

GroenLinks proposed that the progressive parties D66 and PvdA should join a coalition together, but both parties rejected this.

 GroenLinks and PvdA did indicate that they only wanted to join cabinet if the other party or the Socialist Party (SP) also joined. Contrary to previous elections, SP no longer ruled out cooperation with the VVD and did not impose another left-wing party in the cabinet as a condition.

After the appointment of party leader Esther Ouwehand, Party for the Animals (PvdD) was also open to joining a cabinet.

During the campaign, coalition partners D66 and ChristenUnion (CU) emphasized their differences regarding medical-ethical questions, making cooperation between those parties unlikely.

Following the March 2021 Dutch general election, Rutte's VVD party held 34 of 150 seats and was expected to form a new coalition government.

After remaining caretaker Prime Minister for the duration of the longest formation process in Dutch history, on 15 December 2021 he presented a coalition agreement with D66, CDA and CU, the same combination as his previous government. (ILKHA)