Geert Wilders’ personal policy advisor and member of Zuid Holland provincial council has left the PVV.

Stephan Jansen, who has been active for the party since 2006, says in a letter to party workers that his departure is due to the anti-Moroccan statements made by Wilders during and after the local election campaign. A copy of his letter is in the hands of the Volkskrant.

‘The recent statements about Moroccans made by our politicial leader, Mr Wilders, have ensured our party will never be taken seriously again,’ Jansen writes. ‘No other political party will work with us.’

Left-wing

This means a vote for the PVV has become a vote for the left. ‘Parties like the VVD and CDA are forced to look for a left-wing party [as coalition partner] because there is no acceptable right-wing partner available.’

The PVV has also increasingly shifted to the left, he said. That, Jansen said, is a second reason to resign.

The Volkskrant says PVV sources have said other party workers are concerned about developments. The recent resignation of three of the party’s MPs means the party has lost three times €165,000 in support funding and other parliamentary jobs are under threat.

Resignations

Two MPs, one MEP and a handful of provincial councillors have quit since Geert Wilders led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant after the local elections.

During the PVV local election celebrations in The Hague, Wilders asked his supporters ‘and do you want more or fewer Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?’ To which the crowd chanted ‘fewer, fewer, fewer’.

‘We’ll arrange that,’ Wilders said when the chanting died down. The public prosecution department is considering whether Wilders should face charges.