BBB expels Senator Van Gasteren after party spat

BBB has announced that Senator Robert van Gasteren is no longer part of its Senate faction. This follows Van Gasteren’s public resignation from the party during a members’ meeting last Friday. BBB has requested that Van Gasteren give up his Senate seat, but he has decided to retain it for the time being. He is currently listed as an independent senate faction.

“Let me be clear: representing BBB in the Senate requires being a party member,” says faction chair Ilona Lagas. “Membership is not just a formality for BBB; it is a core part of the collective responsibility and the bond with the party and its members.”

This came after the chair of today’s plenary session in the Eerste Kamer, Senator Mei Li Vos, said the following at the opening:
“I would like to inform the House that I have received notification from the BBB that Mr Van Gasteren is no longer a member of the BBB with immediate effect. I am awaiting further communication from Mr Van Gasteren regarding how he intends to deal with the situation that has arisen.”

Since BBB became the largest party in the Senate in 2023, four other senators have left the party due to discontent: Robert Croll and Arie Griffioen moved to D66, Eric Kemperman joined FVD, and Pim Walenkamp established a one-person faction. Van Gasteren’s exit further shrinks BBB’s Senate faction. The party began with 16 seats following its 2023 landslide, but after several departures, the faction now stands at 11 seats.

At the chaotic members’ meeting in Barneveld, Van Gasteren declared that he is entirely fed up with the party’s unprofessionalism and the absence of a clear political direction.

Van Gasteren’s decision on Friday was overshadowed by Mona Keijzer’s official exit from BBB. She had previously left the party’s Tweede Kamer faction, which is for the lower house of Dutch parliament, after Henk Vermeer, rather than herself, was chosen to succeed Caroline van der Plas as party leader. The Barneveld meeting had been organized specifically to ease tensions.

BBB’s strong standing in the Senate stemmed from its decisive win in the 2023 provincial elections. Although the party could not repeat that success in the elections for the Tweede Kamer later that year, it still participated in the government with Keijzer serving as deputy prime minister. In last autumn’s early elections, BBB saw its support decline even further.