By Anton Lutter.
On Wednesday 15 March 2017 new parliamentary elections will be held in The Netherlands. The formal election cycle begins earlier and is supervised by the Electoral Board. The day of formal entry of parties who are part of the elections is 19 December and the entry of candidates will take place on 30 January 2017.
Prior to this, observers will notice the usual escalation in political tensions in parliament, due to members wanting to enhance the profiles of their parties and themselves. Campaigning will begin after the state opening of parliament with all its pomp and pageantry on 3 September.
The debates in parliament about the the state budget (Rijksbegroting) will be more vigorous than usual, as political parties seek to differentiate themselves and carve out their own political space. The question of who will be the number one man or woman for each party in the elections will be decided at the parties’ respective national conferences. So far, the SP, D’66, CDA, Groen Links and VVD parties have already decided who their frontrunner (lijsttrekker) will be in the forthcoming elections; as yet, there has been no change in leadership. Governmening parties PVDA and VVD will soon make their own selections. In this series, I will profile the party leaders of the larger parties in order of their election.
The first to be chosen as his party’s frontrunner is Gert-Jan Segers of the Christen Unie, a traditional Christian party with five seats in the lower house (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) and three seats in the upper house (Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal). Mr Segers, born in Lisse (province of Zuid-Holland) in 1969, studied politicology at Leiden University. He later earned a Master degree at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC, specializing in Western-Islamic relations. Before entering parliament, Mr. Segers worked for the Evangelische Omroep, the evangelical televison and radio corporation, and from 2000 to 2007 was coordinator of a Christian organization in Egypt. Since 20 September 2012 he is a Tweede Kamerlid and since 10 November 2015 Chairman of the Christen Unie party in parliament. On 23 April he was selected by his party as frontrunner. Mr Segers is married with 3 children.
Jesse Klaver of leftwing party Groen Links was elected on the same day. The Netherlands’ youngest political frontrunner, born in 1986, was elected uncontested. He has been a member of parliament since the 2010 elections, and Chair of his parliamentary group since 2015.
CDA (Christen Democratisch Appel) parliamentary leader Sybrand van Haersa Buma comes from a distinguished family of public servants. He was elected leader of his part on 4 June. Mr. Buma was born in Workum (Province of Frisia) in 1965 and studied law at Groningen University. Since 2002 he has been a member of parliament and became the leader of the CDA group in 2010, which then consisted of 13 members. The CDA is an amalgamation of the CHU, ARP (both parties of a Protestant persuasion) and the KVP (the Catholic party). The CDA and its predecessors were continously in government until 1994. After heavy losses, the CDA subsequently became an opposition party, but recovered in 2002 to again become the largest party in parliament. At present, the CDA is in opposition. Mr van Haersma Buma, whose father and grandfather where both mayors, is married and has two children.
Alexander Pechtold is the frontrunner of the D’66 liberal party. Selected on 14 September he is a long-serving member of parliament. He has been involved in politics since 1994; first as a city councillor and alderman in the city of Leiden (province Zuid-Holland) and later as Mayor of Wageningen (province Gelderland) from 2003. Two years later, he became Minister of Internal Affairs, a post he left after his party withdrew support for the government resulting in elections on 2 November 2006 at which D’66 lost heavily. He returned to parliament though, where he has remained. Mr Pechtold is known for his interest in art, having studied art history and archeology at Leiden University.
The left wing Socialist Party (SP) has also chosen its current leader, Emile Roemer, as it frontrunner for the coming elections. Mr. Roemer – a teacher by profession – has been a member of parliament since 2006, and leader of the SP parliamentary group since 2010. As with Mr Pechtold, he began his political career as a city councillor in 1994. After the city council elections in 2002 he became alderman in Boxmeer (Province Noord-Brabant) before entering parliament. He was elected as his party frontrunner the 24 of June.
The leader of largest opposition party in parliament, Geert Wilders, is the uncontested leader of his party. He has been in parliament since August 1998, with a short break from 2002 to 2004, as a member of the VVD (liberal) group. In 2006 he founded the Party for Freedom (PVV) and leads it today. He is well known for his anti-Islamic stance and role as producer of the film ‘Fitna’ in 2008. His direct way of debating has earned him accolades from sections of the public and media.
In the next article, we will discuss some of the new and smaller parties, alongside the largest governing party led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the second governing party (PVDA) which has just started its leadership contest.
