The Brabant regional party Lokaal Brabant wants to participate in the elections for the House of Representatives on October 29. The members of the party speak out about this on Saturday. If a majority is in favor, Lokaal Brabant will make an attempt to get into parliament. Whether she will succeed is only very much the question.
Lokaal Brabant is a collaboration between Brabant local parties. Since 2014, the party has been participating in the provincial elections. In the Senate, Lokaal Brabant, together with other regional parties, is represented by OPNL, with one seat. Lokaal Brabant is currently also supplying one deputy in the Brabant board.
In the most recent provincial elections in 2023, Lokaal Brabant won two seats in the Provincial States. With nearly 46,000 votes, that was the best result so far. That is by no means enough for a seat in the Lower House. In the previous elections, a party had to get nearly 70,000 votes for that. Yet, with a list full of people from Brabant, the party board thinks to have a good chance of seats.
Challenge
According to Julien van Ostaaijen, administrative expert at Tilburg University and Avans Hogeschool, Lokaal Brabant faces a major challenge. “Nothing is impossible, but it will be difficult. You have to get more votes than you have achieved so far. How are you going to get it at a level where the competition is much greater?”
“In local elections, more than 30 percent of voters vote for a local party,” he continues. “In provincial elections, that percentage is often a lot lower, usually only a few percent. Many people who vote for a party locally no longer do so at a provincial or national level.”
In addition, according to him, it turns out to be difficult to scale up local themes to a general, larger theme. “With a local theme and an appealing party leader, local politics knows how to achieve success quite easily. Local or provincial parties have often tried to continue that success nationally. That did not work.”
Not enough Brabant
According to Lokaal Brabant, there is too much talk about it and not enough with Brabant. They believe that the province is being disadvantaged and that national parties make choices that do not land well in the region.
In the previous elections, Brabanders Rachel van Mertelen (PVV), Maikel Boon (PVV), Eric Esser (PVV), Esmah Lahlah (GroenLinks-Pvda), Ruben Brekelmans (VVD), Daan de Kort (VVD), Femke Zeedijk (van Bamenc), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar), Caspar Bampkamp (van Bampar), Caspar Bampkamp (van Bamensga) (van Bampar) (van Bampar) (van Bampar Bamspampkamp (van Bampar). Dijk (CDA), Lilian Marijnissen (SP), Bart van Kent (SP) and Michiel van Nispen (SP) chosen.
That does not seem to matter Local Brabant. Only a regional party can speak for a province, the conviction seems. If the members of Lokaal Brabant share that opinion, their party will have to think carefully in the coming period about what it means to represent an entire province and what substantive views are involved. Also on topics that are not directly about Brabant.
Until now, the party board gave little substance to that, as it turned out broadcast of the SBS6 program ‘News of the day’. “We are there to get Brabanders into the room,” said chairman John van Gorp. The party makes political considerations when they are ahead, was his reasoning.
Rack
As a Brabander, I feel better represented by one Brabant party than by Brabant MPs from different parties.