Informers: Richard de Mos party not in The Hague city council | Inland

De Mos is suspected of official corruption when he was previously an alderman. He is said to have helped entrepreneurial friends with permits in exchange for donations to the party. The investigation is still ongoing and the case has yet to go to trial. De Moss says he didn’t do anything wrong.

Hart voor Den Haag says in a response: “It is a travesty that parties, who say they are concerned about the decreasing turnout in elections, are excluding and obstructing the largest party in the city. That regentistic behavior does not do justice to the election results and the unwillingness of parties to cooperate does not contribute to restoring confidence in politics.”

Alleged corruption

Hart voor The Hague received the most votes in the municipal elections last month, just like four years ago. Then the local party entered the city council. De Mos and his right-hand man Rachid Guernaoui became alderman. A year later, on October 1, 2019, the National Criminal Investigation Department raided their offices because of the alleged corruption.

Because of the suspicions, Hart voor Den Haag was expelled from the coalition. The other parties (D66, VVD and GroenLinks) exchanged De Mos’ party for CDA and PvdA. That coalition expanded its majority in the municipal elections and can therefore continue without De Mos. Several parties have announced that they do not want to work with De Mos now either.

‘Lack of self-reflection’

One of those parties is D66, the second faction in the Hague council. D66 finds a place for Hart voor The Hague “not possible until a court decision” and believes that the party shows “a lack of self-reflection”. GroenLinks and PvdA have also ruled out collaboration with De Mos. The informants advise that D66 should now be given the opportunity to form a city council.

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