Wopke Hoekstra succeeds Hugo de Jonge as CDA party leader

Wopke Hoekstra will succeed Hugo de Jonge as party leader of the CDA. The party board unanimously decided this on Friday evening, which was announced by the chairman Ruger Ploum. Hoekstra is also currently the Minister of Finance.

Earlier on Friday, CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt told Nieuwsuur that he thought Hoekstra should lead the party. Omtzigt paid a visit to Hoekstra’s home on Friday evening. Recently. Both men were explicitly associated as successors to De Jonge.

Omtzigt also expressed his support for Hoekstra on Twitter. “I want to support Wopke to guide our party and our country through this extremely difficult period,” he writes.

Omtzigt’s support must be a valuable encouragement for Hoekstra. During the previous CDA party leader election in July, Omtzigt narrowly lost the position to De Jonge.

Hoekstra was initially considered a favorite for that position, but he surprisingly withdrew a month before the election. “The party leadership is asking for other things that I can be good at,” he said at the time.

Current party leader, Hugo De Jonge, announced on Thursday that he would step down from his position. He found the job to be too difficult in combination with his position as Minister of Health. He will also not be on the list for the upcoming parliamentary elections. However, he will remain on as the Minister of Health.

In recent months, De Jonge has focused almost exclusively on the corona crisis. “I have come to the conclusion that I cannot fully fulfill both responsibilities. Responsibility for tackling the corona crisis must come first,” he wrote in a letter to the CDA.

In addition, he said that the CDA deserves a party leader who “can devote all the time and energy to the party. That is not possible for me now.”