Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart (born 27 June 1961) is a Dutch politician of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA). She has been mayor of Delft since 2 September 2016.

Early life

Van Bijsterveldt attended nursing school and worked in healthcare.

Politics

In 1990 she became politically active for the

. She was an alderwoman (member) of the

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...

municipal council but left her post after the mayor of Almere's expenses were investigated. Van Bijsterveldt disagreed with the way the other aldermen of the social-democratic PvdA and the liberal

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

had dealt with the matter, and following a motion of no-confidence she resigned. In 1994 she was appointed to be Mayor of

Schipluiden Schipluiden is a village in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is the seat of the council of the municipality of Midden-Delfland. The village was founded relatively late in the 15th century and evolved around the Keen ...

and at age 33, she became the youngest Mayor in Dutch history. She also was active within the CDA, first as chair of the

Christian Democratic Youth Appeal The Christian Democratic Youth Appeal (Dutch: Christen-Democratische Jongeren Appèl), officially abbreviated as CDJA, is the youth organisation of the political party Christian Democratic Appeal in the Netherlands. It came about via the merging o ...

(CDJA), the CDA's youth organization and later as chair of the CDA-women's council. In November 2002 van Bijsterveldt became party chair of the CDA. She was the first chair directly elected by the CDA membership. She beat the other candidate with 26.542 against 9.574 votes. She was reelected for a period of four years in 2006. On 22 February 2007 Van Bijsterveldt was appointed State secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the fourth

Fourth Balkenende cabinet The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Unio ...

. In August 2009 she made a speech in the States General about Laura Dekker, a thirteen-year-old Dutch citizen whose plans to circumnavigate the world solo caused international controversy. Van Bijsterveldt spoke against Dekker and agreed with the decision to make her a ward of court.Van Bijsterveldt ziet solozeiltocht 13-jarige niet zitten
''Inhetnieuws.nl''.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
J.M. (Marja) van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Bijsterveldt, Marja van 1961 births Living people Aldermen in Flevoland People from Almere Chairmen of the Christian Democratic Appeal Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch nurses Mayors in South Holland Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Ministers of Education of the Netherlands Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Delft People from Midden-Delfland Politicians from Rotterdam Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands State Secretaries for Education of the Netherlands Women mayors of places in the Netherlands Women government ministers of the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians