Dutch Justice Minister Makes Bid to Lead Rutte’s VVD Party
(Bloomberg) -- Dutch Justice minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius has announced her candidacy for leader of the Netherlands’ largest political party, two days after Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he would quit over the collapse of his coalition government.
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The daughter of a Kurdish political refugee from Turkey, Yesilgoz-Zegerius is the second person to put their hat in the ring for the leadership of the VVD party, following former member of parliament Andre Bosman. As it stands, she is seen as the strongest candidate in the race, having already received the backing of multiple influential party members.
“The decision is now in the hands of the board and then the members of the VVD,” Yesilgoz-Zegerius, 46, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. In an interview to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, she pledged to make the country “stronger and more resilient.”
Rutte was crucial in making VVD the Netherlands’ largest party, and it’s not clear if his successor will maintain its position in the next election. The demise of his tenure risks giving the opportunity to other left and right-leaning parties to increase their seats.
“I think she is amazing,” Rutte told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he can’t comment further because he didn’t want to get in the way of the process.
Other potential contenders including Sophie Hermans and Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers have thrown their support behind Yesilgoz-Zegerius. The Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink called Yesilgoz-Zegerius’s candidacy “good news.” Former party leader Klaas Dijkhoff has said he isn’t in the running. The party has said it will present its leader candidate this week.
Yesilgoz-Zegerius was born in the Turkish capital Ankara and moved to the Netherlands when she was a child. She became a member of parliament from the VVD party in 2017, ascending to the role of State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate in Rutte’s third cabinet before becoming justice minister last year.
Along with Rutte, she had held talks with coalition parties in search of an agreement over the influx of asylum seekers. Those discussions ultimately resulted in the collapse of the coalition last week, after Rutte gave the three other parties an ultimatum to limit the right to family reunification for refugees from war zones.
Rutte’s plan to quit politics is expected to throw policy into limbo as the new government could take a while to form after elections, which are expected in mid November.
--With assistance from April Roach.
(Updates to add comment from Rutte in the fifth paragraph)
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