Lilianne Ploumen, who has chaired the Labour party (PvdA) since 2007, is standing down on January 21, 2012, saying it is ‘the best decision’ for the party.

Ploumen will then have been in the job for four years, and says this will give her successor enough time to prepare for the next European and national elections. The resignation comes at a time of falling support for the party and criticism of the leadership in general.
And in an interview with Tuesday’s Volkskrant, Ploumen criticised party leader Job Cohen for not being visible enough.
Prominent
‘He has to be much more visible and play a more prominent role,’ Ploumen said.
She also said Cohen would not automatically lead the party into the next election. He will face competition from other candidates, she said.
Cohen, the former Amsterdam mayor, was parachuted in as leader before the previous election when Wouter Bos said he was stepping out of politics.
Opposition
But Labour failed to win a majority of seats in the July election, and Cohen found himself defacto leader of the opposition. Commentators say this is a role he has never appeared comfortable in and he has been repeatedly criticised for his weak debating skills.
Since the election, at which the party took 30 seats, Labour’s fortunes have plunged in the opinion polls, with some forecasting its vote would be almost halved if there was an election tomorrow.
Last week, a number of local PvdA groups said they were organising a campaign to try to revive the party’s fortunes and re-establish it as the main party of the left.