Kaag and Klaver exclude FvD and PVV in municipal elections | Inland

“With a small number of seats, it often paralyzes the parliamentary order. And now it is knocking on the doors of council chambers in all parts of the Netherlands,” says Kaag. She does not make it explicit in her speech, but the D66 leader clearly refers to Forum for Democracy.

Holocaust

According to Kaag, the municipal elections are dominated by the fight against the ‘extreme right’. “In our parliament, there is talk of ‘tribunals’ (that’s what FvD MP Van Houwelingen threatened D66 MP Sjoerdsma with, ed.). Journalists are cornered as ‘lackeys of power’. MPs are intimidated by colleagues, which makes them feel less free to speak out. Actions necessary to protect our health are compared to the Holocaust, which downplays the greatest crime in human history.”

Kaag declares – again implicitly – that her party will also exclude FvD at the local level, and calls on other parties to do the same, and to speak out openly. “Not after the election, but before that.”

PVV and FvD

After the campaign meeting, Kaag told media that it concerns both FvD and PVV. Excluding the PVV is an election tradition at D66, and FvD was also excluded in advance in the recent parliamentary elections.

GL leader Jesse Klaver speaks similar words at his party congress. Klaver argues that the FvD is carrying out a ‘systemic attack on the democratic constitutional state’, and fears that this will lead to political violence such as happened in Washington last January, during the storming of the Capitol.

“Don’t let it get to that point in the Netherlands. Here too, there are politicians who incite people, intimidate opponents and refuse to accept decisions by democratic majorities,” Klaver said.

PVV leader Geert Wilders responded directly on Twitter: “What arrogance to stop more than a million PVV members in the wrong camp. D66 and GroenLinks thus demonstrate that they are the new fascists of 2022,” said Wilders.

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