Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law Wim Voermans advises Pieter Omtzigt to speed up his decision to set up his own party. At the same time, he warns the former CDA member of the potential pitfalls. “He has to hurry up and be careful,” he says at Sven op 1 on NPO Radio 1.
Pieter Omtzigt announced this week that he would not yet make a final decision about his political future. He goes on vacation with his family first. The question of whether Omtzigt will start his own party is therefore still up in the air. In The Hague it is circulating that Omtzigt has approached people and that he is in preparation.
Pitfall
“You are at your most vulnerable when you start recruiting as a political party,” says Voermans. The degree of difficulty lies mainly in finding the right people, emphasizes the professor. Because recruiting a large number of MPs is not the problem. “There are always adventurers who want to enter the Chamber or the cabinet.”
Voermans thinks Omtzigt’s left and right views are a potential stumbling block. He can compile his list of candidates on that basis, but then you may end up with a left and right bloc that are diametrically opposed to each other on various points of view. “How do you prevent yourself from falling apart or smashing each other’s heads after two weeks?” Voermans wonders.
Omtzigt has a broad network in political The Hague, so it should be possible to set up a party without major internal disputes, Voerman also thinks. “But do they also have the discipline to act as a faction?”
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List of Confidants
That is why Voermans advises Omtzigt to think carefully about who he wants in his party. Would a short list of only confidants be enough? “Technically that is possible”, Voermans responds. “But if you get more votes than you have candidates, those votes will be lost.”
The remainder will then be distributed among other parties as residual seats. “That is a resounding loss and you cannot look for people after the elections. It must be drawn from the list of candidates that you deposit.”
Conversation with Omtzigt
Voermans regularly speaks with Omtzigt, but they have not exchanged words about establishing a new political party. The professor did, however, talk to Omtzigt about “terms in the Electoral Act”. For example, that Omtzigt could register his party on August 28.
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Door: Vick ten Wolde
2023-08-02 11:23:00
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