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The 2006 People's Party for Freedom and Democracy leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy after incumbent Jozias van Aartsen announced his retirement from national politics. Mark Rutte the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science closely beat Rita Verdonk the Minister for Integration, Immigration and Asylum Affairs and backbencher Member of the House of Representatives Jelleke Veenendaal.
After the 2006 municipal elections Jozias van Aartsen stepped down as Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives and announced that he would not be top candidate for the next elections. The VVD leadership had consciously campaigned in the municipal election on a national ticket. The party however did not reach the set goal of 15% of the votes and actually lost 1.5% of the votes. To fill his position of political leader of the VVD, an internal election was scheduled.
Candidate | Born | Position(s) at that time | Former position(s) | Notable endorsements | Views |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mark Rutte | 14 February 1967 (age 39) | State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science (since 2004) | State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment (2002–2004) Member of the House of Representatives (2003) | Gerrit Zalm Frank de Grave Ivo Opstelten Henk Kamp Ed Nijpels Jan van Zanen Hans Hoogervorst | Liberalism Centre-right |
Rita Verdonk | 18 October 1955 (age 50) | Minister for Integration, Immigration and Asylum Affairs (since 2003) | Frits Bolkestein Hans Wiegel Neelie Kroes Frans Weisglas Ayaan Hirsi Ali [1] [2] | Conservatism Right-wing | |
Jelleke Veenendaal | 15 December 1953 (age 52) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2003) | |||
Three VVD members put forth their candidacy.
An independent committee oversaw the elections. 28,788 people voted in this election, which was 74% of the eligible VVD members. They voted mostly by telephone and via Internet. The full results were presented on May 31, 2006, in Hotel Okura in Amsterdam, where it was announced that Mark Rutte obtained 51.5% of the vote and won the election. Rita Verdonk came in second, with 45.5% of the vote. Jelleke Veenendaal obtained 3.0% of the vote. [3] [4]
It is generally expected that Mark Rutte will step down as staatssecretaris and become fractievoorzitter of the VVD parliamentary party because according to the VVD's Liberal Manifesto the party's leader should either be Prime Minister of the Netherlands or the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives.
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right, which promotes private enterprise and economic liberalism.
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010.
The second Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 27 May 2003 until 7 July 2006. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) after the election of 2003. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm, a former Minister of Finance, served as Deputy Prime Minister and returned as Minister of Finance, while former Progressive-Liberal Leader Thom de Graaf served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for the Interior.
Wouter Jacob Bos (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋʌutər ˈbɔs]; is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party and businessman.
Jozias Johannes van Aartsen is a retired Dutch politician who served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 2004 to 2006.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006, following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The election proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later founder of the Proud of the Netherlands (Trots) party and businesswoman.
Hans Wiegel is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson.
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Jelleke Veenendaal is a Dutch politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2003 to 2006. She was one of the three candidates in the 2006 VVD leadership election, in which she placed last, with 803 votes (3%). Veenendaal is a native of Alkmaar.
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Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands were contested using party-list proportional representation. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) received a plurality of the votes, followed by the Labour Party (PvdA).
The Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is the most senior politician within the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Mark Rutte, who succeeded Jozias van Aartsen after the leadership election of 2006 and who has also been the serving Prime Minister of the Netherlands since the Dutch general election of 2010 and was reelected as Prime Minister of the Netherlands after the Dutch general election of 2012.
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General elections are scheduled to be held in the Netherlands in autumn 2023 to elect the members of the House of Representatives. The elections had been expected to be held in 2025, but early elections were called after the government resigned due to a dispute on immigration policy on 7 July 2023. Incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced that he is not leading his party into the election, and would be retiring from politics.
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