Geert Wilders taps 2 new officials to lead the next round of coalition talks after his election win WSOC TV [Video]

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — (AP) — The Dutch parliament named two new go-betweens Wednesday to lead negotiations to form the next ruling coalition, four months after the anti-immigration party led by Geert Wilders won a national election.

The appointment of economist and former lawmaker Elbert Dijkgraaf, and Richard van Zwol, a former senior civil servant who now sits on a key government advisory panel, sets the stage for a new phase in government talks.

Four parties — Wilders’ Party for Freedom, the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the reformist New Social Contract and pro-agriculture populist Farmer People Movement — are seeking to build what they are calling a “program Cabinet” made up of politicians and experts from outside politics.

Together the parties hold 88 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate, Wilders told lawmakers that the talks would “finally start …