At least three municipalities are cutting ties with the "Forum for Democracy" (FvD) party due to candidates from far-right groups.
An increasing number of Dutch municipalities are announcing that political parties are boycotting the far-right party 'Forum voor Democratie' (FvD) due to candidates on its local lists being linked to extremist right-wing groups or accused of making racist and anti-Semitic statements. The majority of parties in The Hague, Rotterdam, and Nijmegen confirm that they will not cooperate with the party after the municipal council elections scheduled for March 18, according to the newspaper 'De Volkskrant'.
In The Hague, Timon Booschra occupies the third place on the FvD candidate list. Booschra is a member of the party's youth, and in 2020, messages leaked from a closed WhatsApp group he participated in. In these messages, he praised the perpetrators of the massacres in Norway and the city of Christchurch in New Zealand, glorified far-right terrorism, and repeated anti-Semitic and racist phrases. Other parties in The Hague issued a joint statement announcing their rejection of any political cooperation with FvD unless the party "explicitly and clearly distances itself" from this ideology which, according to the statement, undermines the democratic rule of law and threatens the security of the city and its residents, demanding the party to take "necessary measures." All parties in The Hague signed the statement except for the local far-right party block "PVV" and the party "Hart voor Den Haag - Heart for The Hague." The "CDA" party in The Hague confirmed to the newspaper that "FvD, from our perspective, has become politically unqualified."
In the city of Nijmegen, Daan Miershoek ranks second on the FvD candidate list and is an activist in a far-right organization called 'Geuzenbond'. One of the prominent members of this group, referred to as Thomas D., is currently on trial after police found a cache of weapons and ammunition in his home in the town of Erp, along with far-right propaganda. The Public Prosecution Service 'OM - Dutch Public Prosecution' suggested that he was planning a terrorist attack, but ultimately had to drop the terrorism charge due to insufficient evidence. The GroenLinks party group in Nijmegen confirmed the boycott to 'NOS'. The group leader, Keriin Lukker, stated that 'the most important basis for us is to respect the human rights of others and to respect the rule of law. The far-right does not do this, and therefore democracy cannot function.' He mentioned that at least four other parties also refuse any cooperation with FvD, while three additional parties consider cooperation with the far-right party unlikely.
In the city of Rotterdam, the FvD candidate list includes two names from the 'Geuzenbond - Geuzen Association': Tim van Sitten in sixth place and Vos Leijnse in tenth place. The parties 'D66', 'VVD', 'CDA', 'GroenLinks-PvdA - the Green Left - Labor Party', 'DENK', and 'ChristenUnie - Christian Union' confirmed to 'de Volkskrant' that they will not work with this party. Tim Versnel, the local leader of 'VVD' in Rotterdam, said: 'We do not cooperate with extremists.'
In the municipality of Nieuw-Vennep, the second candidate on the FvD list, Frank Volkerts, is causing widespread controversy, as he was previously a member of a new Nazi party called 'NVU'. The parties 'VVD', 'GroenLinks-PvdA – the Green Left – Labor Party', 'CDA', and 'ChristenUnie – the Christian Union' in Nieuw-Vennep issued a joint statement confirming that 'there is no place for extremist ideology' in the municipality. These parties demanded that FvD 'unequivocally' distance itself from extremism and take 'appropriate measures' regarding this. Despite this wave of boycott, the FvD party is participating in the upcoming municipal elections in 104 municipalities on March 18, which is double the number of municipalities it contested in the previous local elections in 2022, raising questions about the extent of its influence compared to the other parties' efforts to politically isolate it.