VVD very worried about getting through the upcoming parliamentary elections

There is unrest within the VVD party about the upcoming elections and the impending loss they expect the party to suffer, RTL Nieuws reports based on often anonymous conversations VVD members had with the broadcaster’s political reporters. No one wants to get rid of Dilan Yeşilgöz as party leader, but no one is optimistic about her results on October 29 either.

In the second election since Mark Rutte’s departure, the VVD is once again facing significant losses in the polls. Influential VVD members are facing the election campaign “holding my heart” or with “fear and trembling,” according to the broadcaster. “I’m already at the point where I say, just join the opposition, not under the leadership of the current party leader,” a VVD member said.

“I’m worried,” said a former VVD mayor. “I don’t think we’ve hit rock bottom yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with 10 seats.” The VVD currently has 24 seats in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament. In the latest poll by Maurice de Hond, taken on October 3, the party was down to 13 seats - well behind the poll leaders PVV (30), CDA (23), and GroenLinks-PvdA (27).

“We’re stuck in a spiral we can’t escape,” another party member said. “Unless something happens, but then you’re dependent on others.

Another said that everyone they talk to in the VVD is “watching what’s happening with fear and trembling.” According to this party member, it looks like the VVD leadership doesn’t know what they’re doing anymore. He also added that VVD leader Yeşilgöz is so busy that the deputy leader in parliament is effectively calling the shots. “She’s incredibly right-wing. That’s when you get mistakes like supporting that antifa motion.”

The VVD member was referring to a parliamentary motion calling on the Cabinet to declare the anti-fascism movement Antifa a terrorist organization after the United States did so. The motion passed with the VVD’s support, which drew considerable criticism, including from the party’s own youth division JOVD.

JOVD chair Friso van Gruijthuisen called the Antifa motion “incredibly populist, anti-democratic, and also impossible to implement,” among other things. “We find it incredibly unfortunate that the VVD was seduced into voting for it.”

Another prominent party member told the broadcaster that the VVD has made a series of mistakes in recent months. “It started with a tweet from Yeşilgöz about Douwe Bob; before that, we were still doing well in the polls.” And now the campaign is focused on the wrong things, they said. It should focus on the state of the Netherlands, they said. “When I hear about companies that are stopping investment and leaving, but that’s not what the campaign is about. It should be about that instead of Gaza. That’s also bad, but we have less influence over it.”