Jesse Klaver won’t lead GroenLinks/PvdA slate, new face needed

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver has said he will not be the campaign leader of the combined GroenLinks/PvdA slate to fight the general election in November.

Klaver told the AD in an interview that while he would like the job, “it would not be sensible to do it”.

The combination campaign should be led by a new face, Klaver told the paper. “I had been thinking about it for some time, but when the cabinet fell, it was time to make a definitive choice,” he said. “We are starting something new, and the campaign leader role is less important than that.”

“I have led the party for eight years. I hope my decision will give voters the confidence that we really are willing to put aside our personal ambitions for something bigger.”

On Monday, GroenLinks and PvdA members voted overwhelmingly in favour of putting together a joint campaign under a single leadership.

Other names which have been tipped for the leadership role are Marjolein Moorman, who took the PvdA to victory in Amsterdam at the local elections and European commissioner Frans Timmermans, who is currently in charge of the EU’s green deal.

Moorman has said she will consider her position over the summer. The Parool points out that Moorman is relatively unknown outside the capital and that her experience so far is focused on social themes such as eradicating inequality.

An opinion poll by Maurice de Hond last weekend indicated that the GroenLinks/PvdA combine is on target to win 25 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, on a par with the VVD and pro-farmers BBB. However, with Timmermans in the driving seat, that total could be boosted to 28.