FvD news; 26/11
The latest from the meltdown of Forum voor Democratie, which is Dutch for “the gift that keeps on giving.”
- On Tuesday I said that Baudet resigned as FvD board chairman. What I didn’t know was that he retained his seat on the five-person board, now as an ordinary member. On Wednesday he published a video announcing his candidacy for the party leadership, to be decided by a member vote next week. So he wants back in.
- Then it turned out that the rest of the board had not been informed about this action. Baudet was removed from the board, and the announced leadership election is very much in question now because it was not a board decision.
- Then a correction was issued: Baudet has not been removed from the board, since the board does not have that power. Instead he has been asked to leave. No reply yet; I think he will refuse.
- Yesterday, Annabel Nanninga, who is profiling herself as the leader of the opposition within the party, demanded a complete removal of Baudet in an open letter. It appears she’ll get her wish, but she herself is not really the prime cause of Baudet leaving. In any case, I expect her to want to become party leader as well.
- Practically, Nanninga would get her wish if the board would expel Baudet from the party altogether. This is allowed, and he would lose his seat on the board. So far that hasn’t happened yet, and the notion seems to have been overtaken by further developments.
- It turns out Baudet and his supporters hold all the passwords to the party’s social media channels. The board demanded them back, but Baudet hasn’t done so yet. The board filed a complaint with the police.
- Yesterday evening a FvD senator was reported to have said (NRC summary) that during a dinner last Friday Baudet said Corona was invented by George Soros, and that he had radicalised. Baudet was also reported to have said that he didn’t want anyone expelled for anti-semitism, and that “nearly everyone I know is an anti-semite.” Quite damning if true.
- When this news broke Baudet was being interviewed by a society journalist (who seems to have taken over one of the main news talk shows, I missed that). The journalist criticised Baudet’s solism and feelings of victimisation, but didn’t discuss his anti-semitism. He also advised Baudet to found a new party — probably the best advice Baudet has had so far. When the new allegations were revealed and discussed, Baudet said he hadn’t read them but they were lies.
- This morning Baudet demanded a “property settlement,” as with a bad marriage. The money would be divided equally between Baudet and Eerdmans/Nanninga (whom he apparently considers as the laders of the opposition). Baudet wants to keep the name FvD as well. In any case, the board refused to discuss this before Baudet had returned the “hi-jacked ICT systems” aka. the social media passwords (plus maybe some internal systems).
- In the same interview Baudet denied he had radicalised, but Eerdmans, among others, confirmed the senator’s version of the story. On the whole I think the story is true.
- A completely unknown former FvD member, Michael Ruperti, also announced his candidacy for the party leadership; first as a joke, but when several members supported him he has become serious. This item’s source, De Telegraaf, exaggerates frequently (English readers can view it as a particularly polite tabloid), but it doesn’t sound altogether impossible.
So now we have three official candidates: Eerdmans, Baudet, and this Ruperti.
That is the status so far; no doubt I’ll have another update on the FvD soap soon. Also, on Sunday the Peil.nl poll will drop, the first one to factor in all these FvD problems. Let’s see how many seats they retain. My guess: 1 or 2.
See also this excellent overview article by extreme-right specialist Cas Mudde.
Now I’m going to publish quickly before the situation changes again.
<— Baudet resigns as FvD leader
| FvD news: Baudet wins? —>
This is the political blog of Peter-Paul Koch, mobile platform strategist, consultant, and trainer,
in Amsterdam. It’s a hobby blog where he follows Dutch politics for the benefit of those twelve
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