New social contract must continue without Omtzigt, but is that possible?

On Stille Saturday, a day after Pieter Omtzigt announced his departure from politics, the first hairline cracks were already visible at New Social Contract (NSC). The party was founded by Omtzigt in 2023, from the beginning was outstanding his ideas, consisted of people who had reported because they admired him. The name of the party is based on a book he has written.

The day after Omtzigts departure It turned out what it means when a party revolves around one person. In the TV program This is Tijs Said Omtzigt’s successor, Nicolien van Vroonhoven, to Tijs van den Brink that she is « certainly » open to reconciliation with the CDA, the party where she and Pieter Omtzigt come from. And a merger with the CDA, that it does much better in the polls than NSC? « I don’t exclude anything for the future. »

That same evening, two ministers of NSC, Minister Judith Uitermark (Interior) and State Secretary Sandra Palmen (recovery and surcharges) took a distance from Van Vroonhoven. Asked for a possible merger with the CDA said Uitermark and Palmen: « That is definitely not yet the case. » They had « an important job in the cabinet, » said Uitermark, and NSC has « a real identity. » According to polls, NSC only has two of the twenty seats, but, Uitermark said: « We were not established for the polls. »

Parallels with the LPF

The debate about the future of NSC-Nátzigt will be conducted in the open in the coming period. And although Nicolien van Vroonhoven already gained experience with leading the party when Omtzigt had temporarily dropped out last September, she must perform an almost impossible task. She has to give direction to a party that is completely built for one person, like the Mat Herben (LPF) of NSC.

The parallels with the Pim Fortuyn (LPF) list are for the taking. But the most important thing is that both parties were created entirely according to the image of the founder. Pim Fortuyn, who became very popular in 2002 as a challenger of the sitting power, used his book The ruins of eight years purple As his party program. He compiled the list of candidates for the House of Representatives, and what these candidates tied, was their admiration for Pim Fortuyn.

Fortuyn was murdered by animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf on 6 May 2002, just before the elections. And under the leadership of Fortuyn’s spokesperson Mat Herben, the inexperienced LPF with 26 seats joined the first Balkenende cabinet. The party (and the cabinet) went down to quarrels and text execes about how Fortuyn would have wanted. Herben acted as treasurer of Fortuyn’s ideas, but was not against that pressure file.

As voters made Omtzigt enormously large in 2023, they were now, also to an extreme degree, being bored with him

Now that Pieter Omtzigt suddenly leaves the scene, NSC threatens to get into a similar vulnerable position. NSC and LPF are examples of parties that are not about an ideology, but about a person. In it they deviate from, for example, the CDA (Christian Democracy) or the VVD (liberalism), but are similar to Geert Wilders’ PVV.

The ideas of NSC are mainly based on those of Omtzigt, and on his analysis of what is wrong with public administration. In essence, Omtzigt wanted a reliable but small government, curbing of market thinking and neo -liberalism, more room for social organizations and family values. Omtzigt was always culturally to the right of the CDA, he was always something left-old, hence his emphasis on existence.

Politics

But these are only the main lines. Politics is also: making difficult choices again and again. When is it enough for NSC people and will they send Minister Marjolein Faber (asylum and migration, PVV) home? What do Omtzigt’s ideas mean for the nitrogen policy? For Ukraine? And if a crisis breaks out on any subject, what should NSC do? She will not help any further browsing in the writings of Omtzigt.

The twenty MPs and seven ministers of NSC thank their job to Pieter Omtzigt. When presenting the list of candidates in 2023, almost all of them mentioned their admiration for Omtzigt as a reason to go into politics.

Pieter Omtzigt was the power of NSC for a long time, when voters in him saw the antithesis of the destroyed politics in The Hague. But internally Omtzigt’s dominance has been seen as a threat in recent months. NSC has to stand in a cabinet with the radical-right PVV, and develop as a party.

Omtzigt got in the way more and more. As a party, NSC has hardly developed. There is no infrastructure yet for local departments, the scientific agency has only just opened, and now voters are running away, there are also fewer people who report as a volunteer. Internal NSC people wonder whether the party can participate in the 2026 municipal elections.

Just as voters made Omtzigt huge in 2023, as a political savior, they were now looking forward to him, also to an extreme degree. Connecting your fate to one person is, they also saw at NSC, very vulnerable.

Wings have already been created within NSC, and they will be heard more. There is a right wing in the group, which has no trouble with the PVV and wants to be strict on migration. But there is also a more progressive wing, which explains Omtzigt’s ideas very differently: it is precisely the care for the other, for the weak, according to this group. There is dissatisfaction in this wing about the collaboration with the PVV. Two MPs, Rosanne Hertzberger and Femke Zeedijk, had recently resigned.

Nicolien van Vroonhoven does not yet know whether she only wants to be a temporary leader, or whether she wants as a possible party leader. She is known as a more socio-economic, but more left-wing, but culturally conservative. Other names are also mentioned, for example those of MP Olger van Dijk and Deputy Prime Minister Eddy van Hijum (Social Affairs). Anyone who will eventually lead NSC, the problem remains the same: they will have to release the party from her figurehead.

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