Livable Rotterdam ( nl, Leefbaar Rotterdam) is a local political party in the municipality of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which was founded by

Ronald Sørensen Ronald Sørensen (born 4 May 1947) is a Dutch politician. He was a founder of the Livable Rotterdam party and also served in the Senate for the Party for Freedom between 2011 and 2015. Early life Sørensen is of Norwegian descent. He obtained ...

in 2001. Livable Rotterdam won the council elections of March 2002 due to the charismatic leadership of

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

who had been selected to lead the party. This made it the city's largest political party, a position which for the previous thirty years had been held by the Labour Party. Livable Rotterdam started as a spin-off of the national party

Livable Netherlands Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party. History Historically there have always been parties in States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and municipa ...

but is commonly seen as the local party of the LPF (

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popul ...

), the national party of Pim Fortuyn which was founded just after Pim Fortuyn was fired as ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is t ...

'' of the Livable Netherlands party in spring 2002. Both Livable Rotterdam and the LPF are considered to have similar policy ideas. The party consists of numerous members that are new to politics and were attracted to Fortuyn's dreams of political change. The party attracts attention and criticism for the upfront behavior of its members and its unconventional, if sometimes

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

-leaning vision, especially on issues of

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, crime and inter-culture

tolerance Tolerance or toleration is the state of tolerating, or putting up with, conditionally. Economics, business, and politics * Toleration Party, a historic political party active in Connecticut * Tolerant Systems, the former name of Veritas Software ...

. In the municipal elections of 7 March 2006 Livable Rotterdam lost 5%, dropping to 29,7% of their votes and PvdA gained 15%, making the latter the biggest party again, with 37,4% of the votes. Before the elections, Livable Rotterdam declared it would not enter in a coalition with PvdA and several members even declared that, irrespective of the coalition, they would leave the council if PvdA would become the biggest party (which has happened). Pim Fortuyn - May 4

After the municipal elections of 3 March 2010 the Public Prosecutor in Rotterdam launched an investigation into how proxy votes were solicited by the party, after an e-mail emerged in which one of the party’s councillors gives tips on how to accumulate these. Ronald Buijt wrote that he had 50 reliable citizens of the city who could take the proxy votes to the polling stations. The electoral council said this went against the spirit of proxy voting, which should only be used at the initiative of the voter. This irregularity was added to a litany of complaints against the poll in Rotterdam in these elections (many of which were caused by the PvdA), which resulted in a recount of all the votes cast. Back then the PvdA only beat Livable Rotterdam by a mere 650 votes, yet both parties had 14 seats in the city council.

Joost Eerdmans Bernard Johannes "Joost" Eerdmans (born 9 January 1971) is a Dutch politician, broadcaster and former civil servant who has served as Leader of JA21 since 18 December 2020, a party he co-founded with Annabel Nanninga. Elected to the House of Re ...

was elected ''

'' of Livable Rotterdam on 6 October 2013. Under his leadership, the party won the 2014 municipal election, retaining its fourteen seats. Since 8 May 2014, Livable Rotterdam leads a coalition with CDA and D66. As of 2022 the party leads a new coalition with VVD, D66 and Denk

Electoral results

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.leefbaarrotterdam.nl/ (in Dutch) Local political parties in the Netherlands Government of Rotterdam Nationalist parties in the Netherlands Anti-Islam sentiment in the Netherlands Right-wing populism in the Netherlands Right-wing populist parties Political parties established in 2001 2001 establishments in the Netherlands