Labour MP Ahmed Marcouch to be Arnhem's new mayor

Former PvdA parliamentarian Ahmed Marcouch will be the new mayor of Arnhem. The intention is that he will take office on September 1st. The former MP will be succeeding Herman Kaiser, who stepped down on June 1st, NOS reports.

The Arnhem city council nominated Marcouch on Monday night after a trust committee presented a report on the best possibilities among the 21 candidates who applied for the job. Minister Ronald Plasterk of Home Affairs will now consult with Gelderland Commissioner of the King Clemens Cornielje and give his opinion to the Council of Ministers, after which Marcouch can be officially appointed. This is seen as only a formality, according to the broadcaster.

Marcouch was a parliamentarian for the PvdA between 2010 and March 2017. He stood 13th on the party's candidate list for the parliamentary elections in March this year. But as the PvdA only won nine seats, Marcouch did not make it back into the Tweede Kamer. As parliamentarian Marcouch worked primarily on police, security and integration issues.

Before that he worked at the Amsterdam police for 10 years and as a lecturer. He was also the chairman of the Amsterdam-Slotervaart district for five years and sat on the Amsterdam city council for a time, according to NOS.

Marcouch is delighted with the nomination. He regularly visited Arnhem as a parliamentarian, for example, to discuss problems in schools and neighborhoods, he said to NPO Radio 1 program Met het Oog op Morgen. "It's a beautiful city, but also a city with metropolitan issues."

On Twitter he said: "Arnhemmers, I'm very happy and honored to be allowed to be your mayor in the beautiful and versatile Arnhem. Thank you for this vote of confidence!"

Arnhemmers, heel blij en vereerd om jullie BM te mogen worden in het mooie en veelzijdige #Arnhem. Dank voor dit vertrouwen! @ArnhemRaad

— Ahmed Marcouch (@ahmedmarcouch) July 3, 2017