how does the PvdA recover?
The PvdA members give such an overview, the red bright spots on an otherwise dark map: government cities where social democrats hold sway are the largest. Also abroad: the SPD in Germany of course with Olof Scholz as Chancellor, and previously Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, Spain and Portugal. It is also possible in the Netherlands, PvdA members believe.
“We will soon become as big as we never were, but that applies to all Dutch parties,” says Paul Depla, mayor of Breda for seven years now. In 2017, Depla wrote an evaluation of the significant loss of seats in the parliamentary elections: “With every election you start all over again and you can win. When Rutte leaves, everything will be open here.”
turnover rate
The PvdA is busy with the leadership issue these days, for the umpteenth time. Ten years ago, Diederik Samsom took over the party leadership of the disillusioned, departed Job Cohen. Then came Lodewijk Asscher, followed by Lilianne Ploumen, who only stayed for a short time. The turnover rate is high. Since Mark Rutte has been leader of the VVD (2006), the PvdA has already worn out five party leaders.
After Ploumen’s departure last Tuesday, the faction in the House of Representatives is again struggling with the question of who will take over. The nine-member PvdA party will choose a new chairman next Friday. The names of experienced PvdA members Henk Nijboer and Attje Kuiken are the most tipped. Kati Piri is also mentioned, although she wouldn’t want to.
If it becomes Nijboer van Kuiken, it could affect ties with GroenLinks, sources at the PvdA. “That really wouldn’t be good for the collaboration,” says an insider. “Then we just have to force that through the congress of 11 June.”
Sleeping giant of electoral dwarf?
At the next parliamentary elections in 2025 (or earlier, if this cabinet falls), the PvdA must be fully back on track. Then it should be clear that the PvdA is a sleeping giant that is waking up again, from having shrunk permanently to an electoral dwarf with fewer than ten seats.
Members and experts see two opportunities for a social-democratic renaissance. First: the arrival of an appealing leader — the name of Amsterdam party leader Marjolein Moorman often sounds, but also that of party veterans such as Ahmed Aboutaleb of Frans Timmermans.
And option two: further cooperation with other left-wing parties. “It gets crowded to the left of the center,” says Gerrit Voerman, professor and director of the Documentation Center for Dutch Political Parties. “If the left really wants something, you should still see if hair grouping is possible.” In an opinion piece, Moorman and Timmermans argue for more entanglement with GroenLinks on Friday.
Merger on the left
But prominent PvdA members object to this. Within and outside the groups there is criticism of the pace at which GroenLinks is starting. Old-timers such as Adri Duivesteijn and Hans Spekman P are preceded by the fact that merging with GroenLinks, correct that should be looked at even more broadly, must also be looked at, and Party for the Animals. “The cooperation is going very well”, says Mei Li Vos, chairman of the PvdA senate faction. “You should not immediately come up with the word merger, that can be the final piece of the process.”
The chairman of the youth branch of the PvdA believes that merging should be the goal. “We are in favor of a merger of both groups,” says Andrej van Hout, chairman of the Young Socialists. “Social democracy is not dead, but 75 years after it was founded, you have to look at how best to express the ideas. We think this is in collaboration with GroenLinks.”
Merging is not easy for the PvdA, though. The party carries a ‘huge historical ballast’, says Voerman. “It is the party of prime ministers such as Drees, Den Uyl and Kok, they arise at the highest level. That tradition carries so much weight.”
Pollsters do see potential in a left-wing merger party, says Peter Kanne of I&O Research. “Only they don’t, they have to work with GroenLinks for that. The PvdA has nine to ten seats. Will they go with GroenLinks or will they have a heavyweight leader? Frans Timmermans showed that it was possible in 2019, when the PvdA became the largest in the European elections. After Cohen’s arrival, she also got a boost in the polls.”
“If you bring Timmermans van Aboutaleb into position, you immediately compete for power. But it is not a long-term solution. Timmermans now also has a green profile on behalf of a red profile, because he is concerned with climate. And want a proven paternal leader.”
Rejuvenate
If members do indeed opt for someone like Timmermans or Aboutaleb after the interim pope, this will slow down progress and rejuvenation, according to various PvdA members. “Timmermans would be a very good candidate,” Mei Li Vos says, “but don’t forget that we have very good young people.”
Then the PvdA members quickly hear the name of Marjolein Moorman (48), the list that Amsterdam returns during the recent elections, when the PvdA once again scored the most seats in the capital in eight years.
In any case, it must be someone who has something to say, depla thinks. “It’s not being longer and authentic in your story and you don’t do that two months before the election, you build that up.” He refers to Scholz, to Timmermans, people with a story.
But the temporary revival of the revival masks an underlying problem for left-wing parties, says Professor Voerman. “It is also a crisis on the left,” he says. “A party like the PvdA used to be able to connect the working and middle classes, but that solidarity and cohesion have disappeared. For example, part of the working class is now with the PVV, for the SP and PvdA it is much more difficult to mobilize the images.”
And yet it can repeat, PvdA members again. Growing up, victories. Depla: “If Feyenoord can become champions, the PvdA can also become the biggest. It’s possible.”