Fleur Agema, far-right PVV leader Geert Wilders’ number two for 22 years, will not be eligible for re-election in a complete shakeup of the party’s list of candidates for the next election on October 29.

“Being an MP is the best job in the world and I will miss it terribly. I would have continued for years but unfortunately, circumstances are preventing this,” she said in a four-page letter on social media.

The former healthcare minister did not explain the nature of the circumstances but did some final electioneering by saying she feared the money saved by lowering the own risk element in health insurance would be spent not on care but on achieving the Nato defence norm.  She also wished “Geert a win by a landslide”.

Agema’s departure seems to have prompted a complete shakeup at the top of the party, with former asylum minister Marjolein Faber and parliamentary chairman Martin Bosma also missing from the top four.

Wilders, the party’s sole member, heads the list as usual. His new number two is 41-year-old Sebastiaan Stötelaar  (41), who has been an MEP for the party for a year and headed the list for the European elections in 2024.

Numbers three and four are 37-year-old Shanna Schilker from Volendam and 32-year-old Annelotte Lammers from Genemuiden. Both women have law degrees. Schilder works for the administration and planning department in Curaçao while Lammers holds a post at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).

Wilders will announce the rest of the candidates in the coming days, he said. According to a poll by EenVandaag and pollster Verian, the PVV is currently set to gain 33 seats.