The VVD party grants Yesilgöz full confidence in the leadership
Dilan Yesilgöz has been confirmed to lead the VVD party list in the upcoming general elections without any competition. No other candidates submitted their applications before the deadline set by the party leadership on Sunday.
The party leader, Eric Witzels, announced the nomination of Yesilgöz through the official website of the right-wing liberal party, stating: "We are entering this election with a leadership that knows exactly what it takes to make the Netherlands more free, safe, and prosperous."
This is the second general election that Yesilgoz, who is 48 years old, is contesting since she succeeded Mark Rutte as party leader in August 2023, also unopposed. She had served as Minister of Justice in Rutte's last government, but did not hold any ministerial position in the Dick Schoof government, after the leaders of the four parties decided to participate in parliament instead of the government.
In the previous elections in November 2023, the VVD party lost ten of its 34 seats, ranking third behind the PVV party led by Geert Wilders and the GroenLinks-PvdA coalition, but it returned to the government as part of a right-wing coalition of four parties led by the PVV.
The latest results of the "peilingwijzer" poll show that the party could get between 24 and 28 seats, but its popularity has been declining since Wilders withdrew from the coalition three weeks ago, leading to a call for early elections.