Faissal Boulakjar (born 28 April 1979) is a Moroccan-born Dutch politician, who has been serving as a member of the House of Representatives since the

2021 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power. The elect ...

. He is a member of the social liberal party

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) and previously held a seat in the

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

municipal council (2014–21).

Early life, education, and career

Boualkjar was born in 1979 in the Moroccan village

Tifarouine Tifarouine is a small town and rural commune in Al Hoceïma Province of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Afri ...

and has three brothers and three sisters. His family emigrated to the Netherlands in 1983 after his father had moved there in 1966 to work in a factory of the snack brand Nibb-it. He grew up in the Breda neighborhood Heusdenhout. Between 1993 and 1998, Boulakjar attended the secondary school Olof/Florijn College at level before studying facility management at Spectrum College until 2004. He would later also earn an degree. He was a security guard at the Breda retirement home Raffy in the years 2004–06 and subsequently worked as a

youth worker A Youth worker is a person that works with young people to facilitate their personal, social and educational development through informal education, care (e.g. preventive) or leisure approaches. All types of educative approaches are not ethical for ...

for Surplus Welzijn. He also helped organize free

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

training for disadvantaged children next to his job. Boulakjar became a reintegration adviser in 2011 but left that position the following year to work as a personal injury adviser until 2018. Thereafter, he served as an independent trainer and adviser and as an adviser of the program Samen Ouder Worden (Getting older together), which promotes

volunteering Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group wikt:gratis, freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. O ...

for elderly people.

Politics

Boulakjar joined Democrats 66 in 2009 because of the rise of

populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

and was elected to the Breda municipal council in the 2014 municipal election. His specializations were youth, education, sports, and sustainability, and he became his party's vice caucus leader one year later. He was re-elected in the 2018 municipal election as D66's third candidate, remained vice caucus leader, and served as the party's spokesperson for construction, housing, climate, security, and the region. In 2019, Boulakjar and councilors from the Labour Party wrote a policy paper, in which they called for solving problems in the vulnerable district Hoge Vucht. He also served as manager of D66's campaign in the Breda region for three elections in 2018 and 2019. He ran for member of parliament in the 2021 general election, being placed sixteenth on D66's party list. Boulakjar was installed as House member on 31 March after he had been elected with 2,875

preference votes In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

. He vacated his seat in the Breda municipal council the following day. Within his caucus, his specializations are housing, spatial planning, railways, and public transport. The latter two were later in his term replaced by mining and the reinforcement of houses in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

to survive earthquakes caused by gas extraction. Boulakjar is a member of the parliamentary Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy; for Infrastructure and Water Management; and for the Interior; and he is on the Benelux Interparliamentary Consultative Council. He was one of D66's in Breda in the 2022 municipal elections.

Personal life

Boulakjar is a resident of the

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

village Teteringen, which is located close to Breda. He has a wife called Bouchra, and he has two sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulakjar, Faissal 1979 births 21st-century Dutch politicians Democrats 66 politicians Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Moroccan emigrants to the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Breda