The CDA still has 15 seats in the House of Representatives. That will soon be 14, when Omtzigt returns as a Member of Parliament, because then he will take his seat with him. That is in a few months, Omtzigt is now at home with a burnout.
Part of the poll was conducted before it was known that Pieter Omtzigt was stepping down as a member of the CDA and part after the announcement. According to De Hond, the poll shows that ‘more and more voters no longer feel well represented by a political party and therefore more easily switch parties or focus on new parties’.
76 pages of frustration and criticism
The reason for Omtzigt’s departure was a totally disturbed relationship between Omtzigt and the party leadership. Earlier this week, an internal note from Omtzigt leaked, in which he lashed out at the party. This led to great unrest within the CDA. “Now that this piece and part of my sharp vision is out on the street, it has become even more difficult for me to continue to function within the CDA,” he writes.
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In the 76-page note, Omtzigt describes how he was antagonized in the party and sometimes even felt ‘unsafe’ there. For example, he shows swearing cannonades from various app groups, in which Omtzigt was called “a bugger, psychopath, sick man, jerk, disturbed, unstable” among other things.
Omtzigt is very frustrated about the state of affairs within the CDA and has criticized the party leadership in recent years.
Omtzigt also writes that he would become the party leader if Hugo de Jonge would withdraw from that role, but that he was passed over in an ‘unfair way’. Wopke Hoekstra succeeded De Jonge as party leader. Last summer, Omtzigt narrowly lost the party leader election to De Jonge.
No rupture
CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra is not afraid that the departure of Pieter Omtzigt will lead to a split in the party, he said yesterday afternoon.
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So far, no CDA MPs have come forward who want to join Omtzigt. The popular CDA member received more than 342,000 votes in the previous elections. He was already good for almost five parliamentary seats.
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