Sep 24, 2023 at 4:54 PM Update: 3 minutes ago
Esther Ouwehand is temporarily stepping down as party leader of the Party for the Animals (PvdD). She does not want to get in anyone’s way as long as there is no clarity about the integrity reports that have been made against her.
“There is still a hitch. To this day, I am not aware of what the reports are,” Ouwehand told the members present at the conference on Sunday afternoon.
The board also does not yet know exactly what the nature of the reports is. New chairman Michiel Knol said earlier in the day that he had not yet received all the information from the old party board.
“That is why it was not possible to serve clear wine today,” Ouwehand continued. She does not want the party to be left with a party leader against whom integrity reports have been made. That is why she wants to wait for the investigation.
What is going on?
A conflict arose within the PvdD more than two weeks ago. The board at the time suddenly announced that it would no longer nominate Ouwehand as party leader. This happened because of integrity reports.
A day earlier, Ouwehand had sent a critical email to the board about the management of the party. She sees this as a reason for the decision that the board took.
Ultimately, after days of much commotion and commotion, that board resigned. Ouwehand was still nominated as party leader.
The board is “disappointed” by the situation but respects Ouwehand’s choice. “We are getting to the bottom of what happened. We assume Esther’s innocence, but we have not yet received the information to determine that. We hope to have Esther back on board soon.”
It is not yet known when the investigation will be completed. Officially, Ouwehand remains at the top of the list, but she will be resigning from her duties in the near future.
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Members at the conference massively support Ouwehand
About fifteen hundred members will be present at the conference on Sunday. They expressed their support for Ouwehand en masse. An amendment calling for her to be removed from the list of candidates was only supported by a few dozen members.
The members also spoke out about the rest of the candidate list. Current MP Lammer van Raan will still be in an eligible position. He was placed in 20th place – at his own request – but still made a bid for sixth place. He received support from enough members.
Van Raan is married to Lieke Keller, one of the founders of the party. As a result, he always has “appearances against him,” he said. Van Raan therefore wanted to explicitly ask for support from the members for his place on the list.
The members have also decided – with the support of the initial number two Christine Teunnissen – to put Ines Kostic at number two. She is seen as a great promise within the party.
The new party chairman Michiel Knol gives a speech at the conference. Photo: ANP
Image: ANP
2023-09-24 14:54:26
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