Manfred Smol, councilor for Forum for Democracy, is leaving the Helmond city council. The number two of the party decided that after a conversation with party leader Theo Heller. The reason is the Twitter account with messages in which politicians such as Mark Rutte and Hugo de Jonge were compared with Nazi leaders. Research by Omroep Brabant showed that Smol was behind that account. Heller made a statement at the council meeting on Thursday evening.
Forum for Democracy previously distanced itself from all expressions on the Twitter account. Heller spoke to Smol last Monday, because he thought it was very important to hear his side of the story. A day later, the faction unanimously concluded that it would be better if Smol resigned, ‘to be able to continue decisively as an FVD faction’.
“Mr. Smol has indicated that he believes that his position as councilor is no longer a workable option, given the fuss that has arisen,” the statement reads. He is no longer part of the group. His place in the council is taken by Patty Spoek, the number three on the electoral list of Forum for Democracy in Helmond.
Twitter account under false name
Smol had an account on Twitter under a false name since 2010, where he shared his outspoken views on politics. He regularly shared photos of De Jonge and Rutte in Nazi uniform. According to Smol, both have ‘blood on their hands’ because of the approach to the corona crisis. He also compared Rutte’s working method with that of Nazi minister Joseph Goebbels. He did this in dozens of tweets personally addressed to the politicians.
Omroep Brabant established that the account belongs to Smol, because in 2015 he publicly shared his telephone number with a Sunweb helpdesk employee. He still uses that number to this day. Smol also denied that the account in question was his. A few hours after Omroep Brabant reported about the Twitter account, it was removed.
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