Bij1 disappears from Amsterdam as city councilors split off over unsafe work culture

Amsterdam city council members Jazie Veldhuyzen and Nilab Ahmadi are splitting off from Bij1. They will continue as their own faction, they told NRC. The third Bij1 city councilor split off last year, meaning the party has now disappeared from the Amsterdam city council.

Ahmadi and Veldhuyzen told the newspaper that they felt too “socially-emotionally unsafe” in Bij1 to stay in the party any longer. They described the party as a “toxic, structurally unsafe environment” full of mistrust, abuse of power, and “a lack of transparency and internal democracy.”

Veldhuzyen has been at home with burnout since September last year. The constant battle in the party is “physically and mentally too tough,” he said to the newspaper.

“We have reached the point where there are insurmountable moral, principal, and political objections to keep standing for this party,” Veldhuyzen said.

The Amsterdam faction of Bij1 has been struggling with conflict for some time. At the end of 2021, members voted Ahmadi from ineligible to an electable spot on the party’s list of candidates. The board of the Amsterdam faction leveled accusations of voting fraud and then resigned. An internal investigation found no evidence of fraud.

Ahmadi and Veldhuyzen plan to continue together in the Amsterdam city council from September. They will follow “the political line of Bij1,” working “against exclusion” and “for the most marginalized in society.” They want to ensure that “real representatives of the people are present on the street and in the neighborhoods.”

Bij1 leader Sylvana Simons and the national party board won’t respond in the press to Ahmadi and Veldhuyzen’s departure, a spokesperson told NRC.