Latest Updates on House of Representatives Elections in the Netherlands: Party for the Animals and BBB Compete for Seats

By Edo van der Goot and Priscilla Slomp

09 Oct 2023 at 18:09

On November 22, the Netherlands will go to the polls again for the House of Representatives elections. We will keep you informed about what happened and what is still on the agenda with our election update.

Has peace returned to the Party for the Animals? Last Friday, the new board announced that the integrity reports made against Esther Ouwehand were unfounded.

Ouwehand had temporarily taken a step back pending the investigation, but can now return to work as party leader. That seems to have been a smart move. This way she can go into the campaign blank, without the risk of her integrity being questioned by her political opponents at every debate.

In the latest combined Bearing Guide of Ipsos/EenVandaag in I&O Research the PvdD has seven to nine seats, but this dates from September 27. It will become clear in the near future whether the party has lost more potential voters due to the unrest in recent weeks.

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Omtzigt is a competitor for BBB

In the meantime, the BBB is doing less well than at the beginning of this year. The party achieved a huge victory in the Provincial Council elections. Caroline van der Plas’s party instantly became the largest in the Senate. There was a political landslide.

The trends in the polls currently show a different picture. Since Pieter Omtzigt appeared on the scene with his new party New Social Contract (NSC), the playing field has changed.

NSC is a competitor for BBB, Van der Plas himself knows. “The arrival of Omtzigt will certainly cost us seats,” said Van der Plas against in August The Telegraph. This is also underlined by the bearing pointer.

Van der Plas has never made it a secret that she would have liked to have Omtzigt, whom she regularly calls the best Member of Parliament in the Netherlands, join the BBB. Even after he founded his own party, Van der Plas remained lyrical about him.

When asked why people should vote for BBB and not NSC, she responded last summer Op1 no clear answer at first.

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Van der Plas is criticized for ‘sloppy motion’

Is the love between Van der Plas and Omtzigt cooling off?

But is the love also mutual? The two days after Budget Day, the largest and most important debate of the year takes place in the House of Representatives: the General Political Considerations. The faction leaders speak and discuss all the policies for the coming year.

On the second day, Van der Plas submitted a motion for “slightly” increasing the minimum wage. This had to be paid “through the expenditure side”. It led to jeers from the House. CDA leader Henri Bontenbal called it “free beer” and Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA), Jan Paternotte (D66) and Mirjam Bikker (Christian Union), among others, opened the attack on Van der Plas.

But the motion was not only Van der Plas’s. Omtzigt had also submitted it. Yet the MPs did not attack him and he was not laughed at. And even more striking: he did not come to Van der Plas’s aid.

And guess what? The motion was even Omtzigt’s idea. Van der Plas said this in an email last Friday interview met NRC. When asked what she thought about Omtzigt not helping her, her answer was: “Yes, look, I’ll be fine. But let me speak for myself: I would have done it the other way around.”

Economize? VVD prefers to look at the National Growth Fund

Cut back on campaign time? That’s pretty much the last thing on the minds of the parties. If money has to be found for something, other, less common methods are looked at. For example, money intended to grow the economy for the long term may be used to extend the fuel discount through the excise tax for a year.

This concerns money from the National Growth Fund, founded by former ministers Wopke Hoekstra (Finance) and Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs) in the Rutte III cabinet. Hoekstra swore at the time that the fund is not intended for “fun things”, but for longer-term projects, such as infrastructure and knowledge development.

The VVD, the leader of the fuel discount, now thinks differently about this. There it is said that there is still 8 billion euros from the Growth Fund “on the shelf”. You can partly use this “for families and hard-working middle-income earners who can no longer pay the bills at the pump,” VVD MP Eelco Heinen said last week.

GroenLinks and D66, among others, did not know what they heard. “What does that have to do with future earning capacity?” asked GroenLinks MP Tom van der Lee. They want funds in general to be used for the purpose for which they were established. Heinen said this spring NPO Radio 1 as far as the VVD is concerned, 10 to 20 billion euros need to be cut in order to keep public finances sustainable.

Despite the objections, there is a parliamentary majority in favor of the fuel reduction and the cabinet, albeit reluctantly, also agrees.

Agenda

Monday October 9:

Nomination day. This means that political parties had to hand in their final candidate lists today.

Wednesday October 11:

Do you live abroad? This is the last day you can register as a voter. Your complete registration must be received by the municipality of The Hague before midnight. At the beginning of September, the number of registered voters abroad stood at almost 100,000 Dutch people. Party leader Frans Timmermans (GL-PvdA) will talk to American politician Bernie Sanders in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. The event is already sold out.

Friday October 13:

JA21 is launching a youth branch, called JONG21. Many political parties have such a department. The Electoral Council announces which parties and candidates are participating in the elections.

Saturday October 14:

GroenLinks and PvdA are holding a joint election conference in Rotterdam Ahoy. Members determine the election program on this day.

2023-10-09 16:09:00
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