Van Hijum steps down as NSC leader after election loss; Party pauses leadership choice

Former NSC leader Eddy van Hijum resigned from the party’s top leadership Saturday during the NSC congress in Amersfoort, leaving the party temporarily without a political leader. The move follows NSC’s poor performance in the recent national elections, in which the party failed to win a single seat in the Tweede Kamer.

“An interim leader would send the wrong signal and would unnecessarily reopen all dilemmas,” NSC chairman Reinout van Malenstein said during the general members’ meeting. The party made the “deliberate choice” not to appoint a successor immediately. NSC plans to select a political leader in the future but intends first to reassess its direction.

Van Hijum, who was NSC’s top candidate in the election, explained his decision on stage. “I also need to look for a new job. And I cannot realistically remain fully committed in The Hague,” he said.

NSC hopes to return to the Tweede Kamer with two to three seats in the next national elections. Member of the European Parliament Dirk Gotink will serve as the party’s public face in the meantime, van Malenstein noted. Following the loss of 20 seats in 2023, Gotink is the party’s only remaining elected representative.

Van Malenstein said the party realistically does not expect to return to parliament before the 2030 elections, but he left open the possibility of an earlier comeback. Until then, NSC plans to maintain influence outside parliament by highlighting issues and organizing symposia on various topics to draw public attention.

The party has reportedly spent recent months gathering input from members to develop a strategy to win future seats. Co-founder and party figurehead Pieter Omtzigt is involved in shaping these plans, which the party aims to finalize by November.

As a first step, NSC will participate in the upcoming municipal elections in Amersfoort, Apeldoorn, The Hague, Eindhoven, and Zoetermeer. Van Malenstein emphasized that the goal is not significant seat gains but rather establishing the party as close to citizens and building active local branches.

“We started this movement for good reasons, to restore trust in politics. We have thousands of members, and we are represented in the European Parliament. That fire still burns,” van Hijum said the day after the election.