Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
.
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) ...
began his political career in the party.
History
Historically there have always been parties in
States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and
municipal councils that were independent from the national party system. In the predominantly
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
south of the Netherlands during the 1950s, the
Catholic People's Party
The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...
gained eighty percent of the vote in national elections, local and provincial groups of independents were organised.
During the 1980s, independent parties began to spread to other parts of the Netherlands. Some successful groups like
Independent Rijswijk began to move towards a national movement. A congress for this purpose held in 1989 did not result in much progress towards this goal, although independent parties were still very successful in municipal elections especially in
Hilversum and
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
.
Some of them chose the name ''Leefbaar'' ("liveable"). It became a distinct political movement. It was not a party in itself but consisted of many municipal branches. These branches had no formal ties, and often had radically different programs, sharing only their disdain for the political establishment.
In 1999, prominent media personalities
Henk Westbroek and
Jan Nagel, chairs of the highly successful
Leefbaar Utrecht and
Leefbaar Hilversum parties respectively, founded Leefbaar Nederland as a spin-off from their local parties. Nagel became the party's chair. Nagel had previously been chair of the
VARA
Vara or VARA may refer to:
Geography
*Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy
* Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia
* Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia
* Vara Municipality, municipality in western S ...
, a broadcaster linked to the
Labour Party.
In 2001 the party's support and visibility began to increase. They came to be seen as an opposition movement against the
second Kok cabinet
The second Kok cabinet, also called the second Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous first Kok cabinet and was formed by the soc ...
. In November 2001
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) ...
was elected as the party's ''
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 ...
'' and LN saw rapid growth in opinion polls. On 10 February, a few months before the election, he was discharged because of a controversial interview published in the
Volkskrant
''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000.
Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...
newspaper. Fortuyn subsequently organised his own party, the
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 popu ...
, taking several former LN parliamentary candidates and members with him. On 10 March the Amsterdam public prosecutor
Fred Teeven
Fredrik "Fred" Teeven (born 5 August 1958) is a Dutch jurist, bus driver and former politician and prosecutor. A member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Security and Justice fr ...
was chosen as new ''lijsttrekker''. In the election of May
2002 the party won only two seats in 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 ...
while the Pim Fortuyn List polled in second place with 26 seats.
In the
election of 2003, self-help guru
Emile Ratelband
Emile Albert Rudolf Ratelband (born 11 March 1949) is a Dutch television personality, "positivity guru" and former politician for Leefbaar Nederland.
Biography
Emile Ratelband was born in Arnhem on 11 March 1949. He has eight children as of 2019. ...
was put forward by the party board as their candidate for the ''lijsttrekker'' position. Teeven, who had gained some recognition as MP, withdrew his candidacy for the position when a motion of no confidence was not supported by the party's congress. During a tumultuous congress, the 22-year-old Haitske van der Linde, the daughter of TV personality Wubbo van der Linde and candidate of the party's youth movement J@L, was elected ''lijsttrekker''. She was unable to hold on to the two seats the party held, and the party left parliament. Ratelband, who had formed his own list, was still less successful in the polls. The party tried to dissolve itself, but there were not enough members present at the congress to do that, and the party left the public spotlight. In 2006 the party announced that it would disband itself: it owed a large debt to the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
, who had lent them money for the 2003 election, and only a handful of paying members were left.
Name
The term "Leefbaar" was turned into a political brand by the Leefbaar Utrecht and Hilversum parties; the founders tried to reproduce this success by taking over the name.
Ideology and issues
The party was a populist party, oriented towards democratising society and solving several difficult political issues pragmatically. The party saw itself as a movement against the 'old parties' and especially those cooperating in the
second Kok cabinet
The second Kok cabinet, also called the second Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous first Kok cabinet and was formed by the soc ...
and sought not to characterize itself on the traditional left-right political spectrum. The core principles of the party included
direct democracy, reliable government, downsizing state bureaucracy and law & order policies.
They had a ten-point plan which included:
* implementing
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
s
* combatting
bureaucracy
* strengthening the citizen's say over their own life.
* a just
asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...
policy
Representation
This table shows the results of the LN in elections to the House of Representatives, Senate and European elections, as well as the party's political leadership: the ''fractievoorzitter'', is the chair of the parliamentary party and the ''lijsttrekker'' is the party's top candidate in the general election. These posts are normally taken by the party's leader.
House of representatives
The party were unable to ever obtain any European Parliament or Senate seats. Their support came mostly from independent voters, who no longer felt connected to a particular party.
Municipal and Provincial Government
The municipal and local Leefbaar parties were not an official part of the party. Some of these parties, most notably
Livable Rotterdam were however founded around the same time hoping to gain from the same momentum. Many of these parties are represented in
provincial and
municipal legislatures and cooperated in several
municipal executives. They were highly successful in the 2002 municipal elections, but lost much of their support in the
2006 municipal elections.
Organisation
Organisational structure
The highest organ of LN was the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
in which every member could participate. It convened once every year. It appointed the party board and decided the order of the House of Representatives, Senate and European Parliament candidate lists and had the final say over the party program.
Linked organisations
The party's youth organisation was called Jong@Leefbaar.nl (Young@Livable.nl; J@L). The party published ''De Leefbaar Koerier'' (Livable Courier). The scientific institute of the party was called Foundation Scientific Bureau Livable Netherlands, which published ''De Fundering'' (The Foundation).
International comparison
Internationally, Leefbaar Nederland may be compared to
Forza Italia, a populist party centered on a prominent media personality.
References
External links
*
{{Historical Dutch political parties
Defunct political parties in the Netherlands
Political parties established in 1999
Political parties disestablished in 2006
Populism in the Netherlands
Republican parties
Republicanism in the Netherlands
Secularism in the Netherlands
1999 establishments in the Netherlands
2006 disestablishments in the Netherlands
Centrist parties in the Netherlands