Jesse Klaver to lead Timmermans' Green-Labour into Dutch government talks
Klaver is a 39-year-old MP from the Green Left side of the party
The Dutch Green Left-Labour party has chosen Jesse Klaver, a long-time member of the House of Representatives, to replace party chief Frans Timmermans, who resigned after the party’s crushing election result last week.
Timmermans came in fourth in the election last Thursday, which saw progressive liberal D66 narrowly clinch the top spot, followed by Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party, and the right-wing liberal VVD.
Klaver, a 39-year-old MP, has led the Green Left party since 2015 and brought them into the alliance with Timmermans’ Socialists. He was the only real contender to lead the party at an internal vote on Monday after Labour MP Marjolein Moorman endorsed him.
D66 leader Rob Jetten, who is likely to be the next prime minister, has signalled that his preference would be to form a government with Klaver, along with the VVD and the centre-right Christian Democrats. That could give him a majority of 86 in the 150-seat chamber.
The VVD’s leader, Dilan Yeşilgöz, suggested she wouldn’t join a government containing the Green Left-Labour party during the campaign. However, there is speculation in the Dutch media that Timmermans’ departure might soften her stance on that.
An alternative coalition that replaced Klaver’s party with a right-wing party, JA21, could also muster a majority, but a much slimmer one.
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