Leak in party makes Krol of 50Plus again doubt Inland

The seniors party has been messing around for weeks. Smashing arguments arose at 50Plus about places on the new candidate list for the parliamentary elections. Party chairman Geert Dales rolls around in the street with the three MPs Corrie van Brenk, Léonie Sazias and Gerrit-Jan van Otterloo, but senators from 50Plus and provincial heads of department can no longer get through one door with Dales.

It brought party leader Krol, the sign of the party, into a difficult situation. He gets along well with Dales because after years of internal arguments at 50Plus he finally seemed to bring peace to the tent.

Dales got a headwind after he indicated that he wanted to be on the candidate list for 50Plus. In this way he forms direct competition for the sitting MPs Van Brenk, Sazias and Van Otterloo. Provincial people over 50 also saw their chances of a House seat shrinking.

Conversely, MPs and other critical people over 50 denounce the dominant style of party chairman Dales. He would put party members against each other and in his hunt for a spot on the electoral list throw others under the bus.

Henk Krol would have preferred 50Plus members to speak out on the issue, but the corona crisis has made a party meeting on internal concerns more difficult.

Sleepless nights

The internal hassle falls firmly at Krol. On Wednesday he informed De Telegraaf that he has sleepless nights. He thinks his group members in the House of Representatives have played things up so high. For days he considered leaving as a 50Plus group leader. In addition, he also lashed out strongly at the three sitting MPs. “Our members make up the service, not our MPs. And certainly not three MPs who together only have 60,000 preference votes. ”

Last Thursday, Krol finally made the decision. He wanted to stay on condition of reforms within his party. A plan for this was ready, but leaked a day later.

That this happened brought yet another hitch. It was agreed that the new plans would remain secret. That this trust has been violated has made Krol doubt again.

On Sunday morning, according to the agitated 50-plus, he announces what he will do in the end: stay or still get out. He already knows what he is going to do, but this time – for fear of new leaks – he did not notify anyone.

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