Utrecht has a new mayor: Sharon Dijksma. She is a PvdA member, while it is not the largest party in Utrecht or our country. And who looks at the distribution of mayors in our country will notice something. The PVV has no mayors at all, while it is a large party nationally. How did that happen?
“People push each other jobs”, says PVV leader Geert Wilders. “It is not the case that PVV members do not apply. I know of people who applied for mayoral posts but did not become one.”
And that while Wilders believes that his party certainly has suitable candidates in house. “But if you can never supply mayors, you can never supply someone who has experience. It’s a chicken and egg story.”
Trust in person
In the case of Utrecht, according to political reporter Frits Wester, there was also no PVV member among the applicants. “For mayors, it’s not about how big you are nationally. It’s about how much confidence they have in you as a person as mayor.”
“The mayor is the first citizen to be placed above a party. But you can see that who is now mayor is a party division from fifty years ago. These are often older parties such as the VVD, CDA and PvdA.”
House of Representatives
This is also evident when you look at the distribution of the mayoral posts. There are 105 CDA mayors, 103 VVD mayors and 71 PvdA mayors. Very different from the distribution of seats in our country, where the PvdA is the seventh party in the House of Representatives. The PVV is the largest after the VVD, but therefore has no mayors.
Wester also says that a PVV member can easily apply. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” The King’s Commissioner makes a selection and checks who is being talked to. “The city council ultimately decides who will be mayor.”
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