Farm minister Henk Bleker has thrown his hat into the ring in the battle to lead the Christian Democratic party’s election campaign.

Bleker launched his campaign for the leadership on Saturday afternoon, and was quick to distance himself from Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV, which had an with the outgoing cabinet until late April.
While Bleker said he was proud of what the cabinet had achieved so far, ‘the PVV walked a number of roads I would not have gone down,’ Bleker said.
Liesbeth Spies, who recently took over from Piet Hein Donner as home affairs minister, is also a candidate for the job, as is Sybrand van Haersma Buma, who currently leads the CDA parliamentary party. Both politicians have also said they were unhappy about the party’s relationship with the PVV.
The CDA has been without a leader since Jan Peter Balkenende resigned following the party’s disastrous showing in the June 2010 general election.