State Member PVV leaves party

Stephan Jansen, State Member for the PVV in South-Holland is leaving the party. The personal employee of party-leader Geert Wilders published a farewell letter in the Volkskrant.

In the letter, he writes that the party will "never be taken seriously anymore" after the now-notorious anti-Moroccan expressions of Wilders. As a second reason for his departure, Jansen argues that the party is taking a leftist course:

"With the departure of, among others, Joram van Klaveren it seems that the right wing of healthily-thinking conservatives definitely seems to have taken off within the PVV. The left side of the party will determine the policy further in the coming years. I presented myself to the PVV in 2006 due to the rightist noise of Klare Wijn and the Pland for a new Golden Age. Of this thinking, little to nothing is left."

The 31-year old State Member has been part of the PVV since 2006. In 2011 Jansen became State Member in South-Holland. Next to that, he was Wilders' right-hand man.

Jansen will continue as independent State Member, he writes, and will "strain myself to shine a rightist light on current issues."

Jansen's departure is one in a steady stream of PVV members who feel the party has veered into an ideology that they no longer want to be a part of. It is especially Wilders' comments about "fewer Moroccans" on election night, the 19th of March, that has members fleeing.

Members of Parliament Roland van Vliet and Joram van Klaveren left after those comments, as European Parliamentarian Laurence Stassen. State Members in Friesland and a municipal council member for the party in The Hague stepped down.

Jansen and Van Klaveren also state that the party is taking a more leftist course now. Van Klaveren now works with MP Louis Bontes, who had stepped out of the PVV earlier. They are setting up a new right wing party.