NSC MP Diederik Boomsma the second coalition politician to switch to JA21

NSC parliamentarian Diederik Boomsma is switching to JA21 for the upcoming parliamentary election on October 29. He is leaving the NSC effective immediately, but won’t take his parliamentary seat with him.

JA21 published its list of candidates for the election, and Boomsma is sixth on the list. He is the second coalition politician to switch to the right-wing party, following former PVV State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie. She is third on the list.

Joost Eerdmans, the only current JA21 member of parliament, will lead the party again. Co-founder Annabel Nanninga is in second place. JA21 will focus on three key themes for the election: migration, security, and prosperity. “The previous Cabinet was supposed to be a big right-wing promise, but the results have been zero. JA21 exists to restore that trust,” Eerdmans said with the list of candidates.

Boomsma attempted to become the NSC leader for the upcoming parliamentary election but withdrew from the race due to resistance from the party leadership. Caretaker Minister Eddy van Hijum became the new party leader of the NSC.

Boomsma is not the first NSC MP to jump ship in recent months. Aant Jeele Soepboer resigned his seat in mid-July to become the leader of the Fryske Nasjonale Partij. And Agnes Joseph switched to the BBB late last month, taking her seat with her.

Pieter Omtzigt established the NSC in the run-up to the previous parliamentary elections in November 2023. The party won a massive 20 seats in the Tweede Kamer in its first election and became part of the Schoof I Cabinet with the PVV, VVD, and BBB.

Since then, the party has pretty much imploded. Party leader Omtzigt first took an extensive medical leave due to burnout and then left national politics altogether. His successor, Nicolien van Vroonhoven, announced that she would not lead the party again. And support for the NSC in the polls plummeted. The party currently stands at one projected seat in parliament.