The recent leadership change at farmers’ party BBB has caused a rift in the party, with prominent members lobbying for outgoing housing minister Mona Keijzer instead of Henk Vermeer.

Party co-founder Caroline van der Plas stepped down on Friday, and named Vermeer as her successor.

But in an email to the party management, leaked to the Telegraaf on Friday, senator Robert van Gasteren, caretaker junior defence minister Gijs Tuinman, and former MP Claudia van Zanten expressed their concern about the party’s future.

The trio said BBB co-founder Henk Vermeer is “a respected and valued party member,” but that Mona Keijzer is a “very experienced administrator and politician who will bring in the votes. She has a broad appeal and was mentioned as being prime minister material for a reason,” the e-mail read.

In the last elections, Keijzer gained almost as many preference votes as Van der Plas.

While it is customary for the parliamentary party – now just four MPs – to elect a new leader, “we do not understand or accept that such a momentous decision has not been put before the membership,” the e-mail continued.

The trio also claimed the leadership change is “questioned in all layers of the BBB”. Other prominent BBB members support Vermeer, they told broadcaster NOS.

According to NOS political correspondent Ewoud Kievit, the departure of Caroline van der Plas has caused confusion about the identity of the party.

Vermeer and others in the party management want a return to the origins of the party, following the disappointing election outcome, and to concentrate on farming and the countryside. Team Keijzer, however, is campaigning for a “social conservative people’s party” with space for Keijzer’s anti-migration stance.

Tuinman said in a reaction that the e-mail is part of a lively exchange about where the party is going, its identity and its strategy in the run-up to the final vote for a new leader by the parliamentary party on Tuesday.