GroenLinks’ list for the Senate election looks different after Saturday’s convention than the draft list that was presented to members. The top five remained unchanged, although candidate Daan Roovers (fifth place) received just one percentage point more votes than his opponent. Party ideologue Noortje Thijssen dropped from eighth to sixth place.
Thijssen is director of the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau and was in the news this week for the vision she presented together with her Social Democratic counterpart (Tim ‘S Jongers, director of the Wiardi Beckman Foundation) on the collaboration between PvdA and GroenLinks. GroenLinksers also voted Menno van der Ven, from ninth to seventh place. You particularly stressed the importance of having more young people on the list.
Party leader Paul Rosenmöller admitted he has mixed feelings about musical chairs. He stressed that the members are in office but thinks it is “bitter” that current Senator Roel van Gurp, “a dear colleague” who was number six, has been restored to number nine. “Then take at least nine seats,” said the current party chairman of GroenLinks.
Labor Party
At the PvdA the list remained unchanged, but this does not mean that it was adopted without due complaints. The list that the party council presented to the congress differed markedly from an advice given by a committee headed by former party leader Job Cohen. This left incumbent Senators Ruud Koole and Hamit Karakus in ineligible positions. Then they withdrew.
Several members sought clarification from the party council and received public support. President Esther-Mirjam Sent explained that compiling a list of candidates is a “complicated puzzle” in which all kinds of interests are weighed. Not everyone was happy with it, but the grumbles about the procedure remained.
Cooperation
The conferences are mainly about cooperation between the parties. Rosenmöller stressed to the congress that the Netherlands may take a different course after twenty years of right-wing politics, led by former Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende (CDA) and his successor Mark Rutte. Incidentally, the PvdA has also participated in government coalitions with both prime ministers.
Cooperation with the Social Democrats is particularly important because of the “power of numbers”, Rosenmöller said in his speech. Rutte will have to follow the “path through the left” if PvdA and GroenLinks are soon to form the largest group together, says Rosenmöller. The senator and former party leader hopes for at least nine GroenLinksers in that group. The party currently has eight seats in the Senate.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
