Conservative christian party SGP again has no women on list of candidate MP's

The conservative Christian party SGP has published its list of candidates for the parliamentary elections in October. Again, there is not a single woman on the list of 50 candidates.

Lilian Janse of the SGP’s Vlissingen branch wanted to become the party’s female parliamentarian, but the conservative Christians seemingly decided to stick to their manifesto, which has stated for over 100 years that political participation is “contrary to women’s calling,” NRC reports.

The question of women in parliament has been a hot topic in the SGP for years. In 2013, the Supreme Court forced the SGP to open its electoral lists to women, and Lilian Janse became the first SGP woman elected to local politics in Vlissingen a year later. In the years since, a handful of women have joined the SGP’s ranks, but never in parliament.

In May, the SGP’s Vlissingen branch attempted to have the party’s manifesto amended so that it no longer states that women’s political participation stems from “a revolutionary emancipatory striving” and is “contrary to women’s calling.” Instead, SGP Vlissingen wanted the manifesto to state that SGP women must consider in their ‘own conscience” whether to run for political office. The other SGP branches rejected the proposal after a negative recommendation from the party board.

The SGP did not mention Janse in the press release it published with the candidates. SGP spokesperson Peter Smit told NRC that gender “was explicitly not addressed” and would not comment on “individual cases.” He added that candidates were nominated from 44 SGP branches across the country, and only 16 of them were placed on the list.

The Vlissingen branch said in its own press release that it “regrets that the main board, other than indicating that gender is not a selection criterion, refuses to provide a reason for this decision.” According to the Vlissingen SGP, Janse, with her years of experience as a council member, would be ideally suited for a seat in parliament. The branch added that it accepts the decision and will campaign “unanimously.”

Janse said she was “frustrated” by how things went. “My department has heard that gender is not a criterion, but the board refuses to comment further. That is of no use to me; I don’t know why I’m not on the list. I regret this attitude; it effectively quashes any form of discussion.”