Four new PVV MPs will replace planned Cabinet members

Four new PVV MPs will join the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament when the Cabinet takes office. The next names on the electoral list are Chris Faddegon, Nico Uppelschoten, Robert Rep, and Folkert Thiadens.

PVV MP Barry Madlener will probably become Minister of Infrastructure and Water. His two party colleagues, Fleur Agema and Vicky Maeijer, are named ministers and state secretaries in the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. In addition, controversial PVV MP Marjolein Faber is being discussed as Minister for Asylum and Migration.

Three of the four prospective MPs are currently working elsewhere on behalf of the PVV. For example, Faddegon is a faction representative in The Hague, and Uppelschoten is a member of the provincial council of Drenthe. Rep is a member of the provincial council of Groningen and a councilor in Westerwolde, the municipality of Ter Apel, where he works in a hair salon. Thiadens is the director of operations for PVV.

The PVV members on the electoral list can decide whether to take up their mandate. Uppelschoten says that he would like to run but that his decision still depends on personal circumstances. An employee of The Hague's PVV party said that Faddegon wants to take his seat "provisionally" but cannot yet make a final commitment. The other two could not immediately be reached.

If all four take their seats, four names will remain on the PVV's electoral list. The last one is Gom van Strien, the senator who was briefly considered as formateur until he was accused of fraud. Last month, the Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) searched Van Strien's house.

The seat remains empty if all names on a party's electoral list have been exhausted.