Down to 13 seats in the latest poll, leaderless and rudderless, the Christian Democrats are making a last ditch attempt at regrouping. Whither the CDA?

Next Friday will see the result of the CDA’s strategic talks that will determine the political direction of the party for the next ten to fifteen years. The report will be subject of a special party congress debate on the following day.
Dotted line
The big question is, Trouw writes in an analysis, whether this new long term programme will affect the present coalition with the VVD and the PVV as silent partner.
CDA chairwoman Ruth Peetoom as much as said it would during the party congress in October: there will be difference in content between the new CDA party line and the government accord. But, she added reassuringly, ‘We signed on the dotted line’, intimating that the party will abide by the policies agreed on by the cabinet.
Still Rutte will have a coalition partner on his hands that is going to be a little less predictable than before, the paper writes. Two of the main advocates of the present cabinet have left the scene. Maxime Verhagen is no longer a candidate for the party leadership and Piet Hein Donner is off to the Council of State. That only leaves conservative party ideologue Hans Hillen.
Cutbacks coalition breaker
Trouw thinks the upcoming debates about where to find at least another €5bn on top of the €18bn austerity package may be where the coalition could come a cropper. There are voices in the party who are saying the new measures are grounds for a new accord. A difference in opinion about where and how to implement the cutbacks might endanger the coalition.
Former chairman Marnix van Rij would welcome a coalition breakdown. In Sunday’s news programme Brandpunt he says the alliance with the PVV ‘has had its day.’ The CDA and VVD disagree with the PVV on many issues’, he said.
The unity within the party will depend on how broad the support is for the new course set out in the report. A split in the party in case the party swings too much to the left, as suggested by some ex CDA member in Limburg, is not likely, Trouw thinks.
Shift
The Christian Democrats belongs in the middle of the political spectrum, according to chairman of the strategic talks Aart Jan de Geus. This, in effect, does mean a slight shift towards the left compared to where the party is now but the movement will hardly register because two thirds of CDA voters are in favour of the present rightwing line.
How will the CDA win over the electorate? By presenting a new, recognisable profile, Ruth Peetoom says. By proposing reforms, says Aart Jan de Geus. The report looks at housing, sustainability, Europe, the financial sector, solidarity, identity and religion, family policy and health care but will not contain any concrete proposals. They are a declaration of principles rather than a party programme.
Why not me?
To unify the ranks the party also needs a new leader. Jan Kees de Jager and Camiel Eurlings have already said no and the hunt is on for the third best candidate.
Nrc wonders why spin doctor and former junior minister Jack de Vries recommended parliamentary party chairman Sybrand Van Haersma Buma for the job in Brandpunt. ‘Van Haersma Buma is not on any list’, it writes and according to Maurice de Hond in the same programme, only 9 % of voters want him in the top spot.
De Vries himself earlier ruled out his own candidacy but in some tweets published by the the paper, he says he only meant to make clear why Buma should be on the list of candidates and ‘when it comes to that, why not me?’
According to Maurice de Hond the new leader will have to be someone with a clear message. ‘But reinventing a party that is part of a coalition is almost impossible’, he said.