Reaction Senate elections

Representation and opinion young people harmed by Statesmen GroenLinks

Dear DWARSers,

The national board and the Leiden-Haaglanden, Rotterdam-Rijnmond and Brabant-Zeeland chapters share your concerns about the situation that arose in the Senate elections last Tuesday. In two provinces, the votes of Statesmen caused an unexpected change in the Upper House faction.

In South Holland, one councillor voted for Volt. This had major consequences. GroenLinks loses one seat in the Senate, and this Statenlid is now no longer part of the GroenLinks group. Many DWARSers voted for this States member last election, because she represented a radical left and anti-racist sound that fit well with our ideals. Voting for Volt does not do justice to the trust of these voters.

We oppose all forms of personal attack towards this State member, and consider it serious that she has been threatened. This discussion should be conducted in an appropriate and substantive manner. Her serious experiences of racism within the party a few years ago must also be acknowledged. The party must remain committed to preventing such situations and dealing with them properly when they do occur.

In North Brabant, all the Statesmen chose not to abide by the list as laid down at the GroenLinks congress and cast a preferential vote for another GroenLinkse candidate. It is not desirable for an MP to disregard the list established at the congress in this way.

Together, these choices of Statesmen ultimately resulted in the youngest candidate also losing his expected seat. At the GroenLinks congress, we already made it clear that youth representation is important precisely in the Upper House too, and is currently missed. There was a massive vote in favour of DWARS's motions on this. The youngest candidate for the Upper House also came out on top.

It is disappointing that, because of the choices made by Statesmen, we will have to miss out on this representation for another four years in the Senate group of GroenLinks, and we will continue to work with you to ensure that this youth representation does happen.

You can come to us with all your concerns, questions and frustrations about this, and we will also continue to share them with GroenLinks, nationwide and in the provinces.

DWARS Rural
Brabant-Zeeland division
Leiden-Haaglanden division
Rotterdam-Rijnmond division