Members of both parties will be able to vote for cooperation in the upcoming election starting tomorrow. Plans are envisaged for a common list of candidates and a common electoral programme. Party members can vote for a week, after which it will be clear whether cooperation will become a reality.
Great decision
“When the news broke on Friday, it was quite a change, but we knew what we had to do,” explains Katinka Eikelenboom, president of GroenLinks. “The scripts had been ready for months. It is good to see how all the talks resulted in GroenLinksers and PvdA members immediately getting to work and that the party boards made this important decision last night.’
“This is the time when we want to take a new step in our cooperation,” says PvdA President Esther-Mirjam Sent. “We didn’t know the elections would come so soon. Our members want us to take a stand together. What binds us is the pressing desire for a social and green future’.
United left
Party chairmen Kuiken (PvdA) and Klaver (GroenLinks) took the opportunity to taunt caretaker prime minister Rutte. Kuiken called the way Rutte “squandered responsibility for him” “outrageous”. According to Klaver, he is “unworthy” of the country. According to him, a united left is the only answer to the Rutte IV cabinet.
The speeches appear to be the starting signal for the next election campaign, even if the polls won’t take place for a while: the Electoral Council had previously announced that the election could take place ‘as soon as possible’ in mid-November.