Over 70 MPs say goodbye to parliament today
Today the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, is saying goodbye to 71 parliamentarians. On Thursday the new parliament, which was elected last week, will meet for the first time, NOS reports.
The PvdA is losing the most people. Only three of the current 35 parliamentarians are staying. They are Kamer president Khadija Arib, temporary faction leader Attje Kuiken and financial expert Henk Nijboer. The labor party lost a massive 28 seats in the parliamentary election and now only has nine left. That accounts for the majority of the departing parliamentarians, but a few already announced before the election that they would not be returning.
The VVD is saying goodbye to 22 parliamentarians. While the party is still the largest in the Netherlands, it still lost seven seats. And a number of parliamentarians indicated that they'd rather do something else than serve another term.
The SP is saying goodbye to Harry van Bommel, who came to the Kamer in 1998 at the same time as SGP leader Kees van der Staaij. This means that Van der Staaij will now be the only one to hold the title of longest serving parliamentarian. Geert Wilders and Khadija Arib also came to the Kamer in 1998, but a few months later than Van der Staaij.
The PVV is saying goodbye to one parliamentarian - Reinette Klever. She joined parliament in 2012 and was the spokesperson for, among other things, gas extraction in Groningen.
The CDA, GroenLinks, SGP and ChristenUnie are not saying goodbye to any parliamentarians today.
