The Party for the Animals once had a slogan: “You don’t compromise on your ideals.” According to party leader Esther Ouwehand, her party’s problems are “on the big political stage right now” but she does not want to be part of this party, which is in coalition with “do-nothing” parties. This is what Nieuwsuur said in his election broadcast.
But his predecessor, Marianne Thieme, said in 2017: “Political ideals are too important to be exchanged for a seat at the wheel.” Ouwehand now says: “For PvdD, power is never an end in itself. “If real change is possible through a coalition of parties that can fundamentally solve the problems, then the PvdD will also come into play.”
The party won both local and provincial council elections. For the first time, PvdD is represented in coalition in a number of municipalities: Groningen, Almere, Amersfoort, Arnheim, Heerlen and more recently in The Hague. In fact, in Almere and Heerlen the party governs together with the VVD.
An Ipsos poll shows that a majority of supporters want the party to also take part in national governance. More than sixty percent agreed with the statement: “I would prefer the party to come into government rather than remain in opposition.”
Ouwehand says many groups in municipalities see “room for a green deal.” “This is sometimes possible with VVD and, in exceptional cases such as Amersfoort, also with CDA.”
Frequent thread conflicts
Whether Ouwehand would become party leader was still in doubt in September. A leadership struggle then broke out in the party, in which the board pushed Ouwehand aside. The reason: honesty reports. Ouwehand temporarily resigned and announced this at the end of the party conference, to the surprise of members. A few hours later, those members voted overwhelmingly in favor, 96.3 percent.
After Ouwehand hired a lawyer, the decision was overturned and the board resigned. The new panel concluded that Ouwehand had committed no integrity violations.
It was not the first time the party tried to oust Ouwehand. In 2010, the executive board of the Ouwehand party did not want to be on the candidate list. “There are discussions about the professionalization of our party,” he says. “This is the common point of conflicts. After all, I am the head of internal development, which the members also vote for. “We now have clarity on this issue.”
This year Ouwehand wrote about his party’s situation: “The step of professionalisation is vital” but had come to the “gloomy conclusion” that it would not be implemented. And the party is not reaching the “base level” that members and voters might expect.
Now he says he had to fight hard for a different path. “I thought the groups should be given room for their own autonomy. We are clear about our ideals, we fight for them and we encourage others. We should not tell these sections of the country from above that they are not like that, we are allowed to participate in governance. “We need to improve further, and that’s what I fought for within the company.”
For this reason, he is of the opinion that PvdD should be separated from the group of founders of the party. “Fortunately, business can now continue. “Unfortunately, the previous recession led to violent statements that the former board acted incorrectly and unlawfully.”
The board of directors resigned
But is the conflict over? Nico Koffeman, the founder of the party in his own words, the leader of the parliamentary group in the Senate and the representative of the former board of directors who resigned, is still there. He doesn’t want to say much about it to Nieuwsuur and hasn’t spoken to Koffeman after the shootout. Although he says: “We both have our own roles. In general, we share the same ideals. The Senate also operates according to these ideals.”
Senator Nico Koffeman also sometimes speaks on the Senate floor about issues that could affect his business interests. Ouwehand thinks it is important that the speaker does not engage with the topic. “You need to step away from the speaking role.” He says he will talk to Koffeman about this. Watch the full conversation here:
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
