Foort van Oosten (born 25 June 1977 in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

) is a Dutch politician and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. As a member of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), he was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

between 20 September 2012 and 20 February 2019. On 20 February 2019 he was appointed as mayor of

Nissewaard Nissewaard () is a municipality in the Netherlands, located on the island of Voorne-Putten, in the south of the province of South Holland. It was created through a merger of the municipalities of Spijkenisse and Bernisse on 1 January 2015. Nisse ...

. Previously, he was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

from 2010 to 2011, and subsequently an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of this municipality from 2011 to 2012. Van Oosten studied law at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. He is married, and has a son. In February 2020, he lobbied for a national knife ban following a spate of stabbings involving teenagers. In September 2020, Nissewaard councilor Peter van der Velden filed a complaint against the municipality and mayor Foort van Oosten for raiding his home in

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a city in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the municipality of Nissewaard, and has a population of 72,500. It covers an area of of which is water. It is part ...

without permission. Officials of the civil affairs department, at the behest of Van Oosten, started an investigation on suspicions that Van der Velder did not live within the municipality and therefore may not be a councilor there.

References

1977 births Living people 21st-century Dutch lawyers Leiden University alumni Mayors in South Holland Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors in South Holland People from Dordrecht People from Schiedam People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians {{Netherlands-VVD-politician-stub