SP party leadership nominates Lilian Marijnissen as party chairwoman

The SP party leadership has asked Lilian Marijnissen to lead the SP list again in the parliamentary elections in November. According to party chairman Jannie Visscher, Marijnissen "has shown great strength, leadership, and inspiration in recent years."

Marijnissen herself called "the end of the Rutte era good news for the country." She said she hopes for a "real battle of ideas. Time for new politics."

In an interview with De Telegraaf, she said that "In the last Cabinet period, I encountered a pretty closed door. The trio of Rutte, Hoekstra, and Kaag held everything back. Well, how nice it is that the whole gang is now stepping back." Under the Rutte Cabinets, Marijnissen said, "Our public services have been commercialized and hollowed out to the bone. The government is deeply distrusted, and rightly so. We have the highest corporate profits, while the Red Cross reports that 400,000 people in the Netherlands are suffering from food shortages."

Marijnissen told the newspaper she was saddened by the departure of SP deputy Renske Leijten. "She was a real representative of the people. I talked a lot with her, then you become friends too. (...) In the interest of the party, I would have liked to keep her in the parliamentary group."

When asked if she thinks that the influx of asylum seekers in the Netherlands should be reduced, she said “Well, for now, I see that it falls short of the high expectations. So now it is mainly a created problem of the VVD, to pretend there is a crisis. I do think that the influx of migrants should be reduced, but then I take a broader view. There are almost a million migrant workers, all of whom must have a home. We should not bring them here again.”

SP members can still register as opposing candidates for the list leadership until Friday, July 21. The following day, the SP party council will decide who will lead the list.