D66 party leader Sigrid Kaag will not be available as party leader in the upcoming elections. This was confirmed by a party spokesman after reporting to Trouw. “He He put a strain on my family,” says the politician. He is under serious threat and under heavy security, which is hard on his family.
Until the next cabinet takes office, Kaag will continue to serve as caretaker finance minister and deputy prime minister. He doesn’t know yet what he wants to do next and whether he will be in the Netherlands. It is not even known who will succeed her. According to Trouw, elections for the party leader will be held at D66 in the short term and candidates can stand next week.
Expectations were high when Kaag became party leader in 2021. She wanted to become the first female prime minister in the Netherlands and advocated a new administrative culture. In the elections, the politician gains five seats and makes D66 the second largest party in the Chamber. After a turbulent period of training, she became Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister in Rutte’s fourth and last cabinet.
Kaag says it was his decision to quit. She just felt encouraged by her D66 party to continue.
His decision had been in the air for some time. In late May, Kaag said on the television show College Tour that his family wants him to stop playing politics. “My family always comes first,” she added. Now the party leader says her dilemma has been on her mind for a year.
Safety
“I’m not stopping because safety and the atmosphere are an issue for me,” Kaag told Trouw. It’s not even the job itself, she says. She finds it exciting and challenging and still has every reason to do it.
Kaag returned to the Netherlands in 2017 after nearly 34 years abroad to become minister of foreign trade and development cooperation. She was an acclaimed diplomat. But her private life was, to her horror, directly under the magnifying glass through her marriage to a Palestinian man. She quickly denounced the political climate in the Netherlands and turned against populism and Islamophobia.
Conspiracy theorists
It has become a favorite target of populists and conspiracy theorists. This went so far that a conspiracy theorist appeared in front of his house with a flashlight on.
According to Kaag, the fact that it arouses so much resistance from some people says a lot about the social climate in the Netherlands. “Unfortunately there is misogyny (misogyny, ed),” she tells Trouw. “Especially if the women dare to stick their heads out and also have a pronounced opinion.”
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.
