The municipality of Meierijstad has a new player on the political scene. 25-year-old Kevin Rooijackers from Keldonk has started his own local political party for these municipal elections. The leader of the one-man party discovered that it is quite easy to register a party, but that you cannot simply get a place in the municipal council. “That’s quite a bit of work.”
These are busy times for Kevin. Every day he spends hours behind his laptop at the kitchen table. “I still live with my parents. From there I do all the work I have to do for the elections,” he says. About three years ago it already started to itch. “If you look at politics and you want to see change, then you have to do something with it. Now it has actually become concrete.”
The graduated plant scientist made his ambitions known to a number of people who are already committed to local politics. “I wondered whether you can just join politics. That turned out to be the case. At the end of October I was asked if I wanted to be on the list of a local party. However, I did not completely agree with the vision. So I started a party for myself. After that, things went very smoothly.”
“I quit my job so that I can now fully focus on the last things.”
Various parties can participate in municipal elections, ranging from local groups to branches of national or provincial parties. In order to participate in elections under a certain name, both new and existing parties must register with the municipality.
Parties that use a national or provincial name must have authorization from the board of that party to use the name. Parties that do not do this and want their own name follow a different path. “Then we need the articles of association that you have drawn up at the notary and an extract from the Chamber of Commerce,” says Carola Govers, project leader of the elections for the municipality of Meierijstad.
Party without a name
“And then you can participate without a name above your party,” she adds. There will then only be a number on the ballot paper, no party name. “Then you do not have to register a name and you only have to submit a list of candidates on the day of the nomination.” All participating parties must do the latter before the elections.
Registering the designation with the municipality costs 112.50 euros and submitting a list of candidates costs 225 euros. “You will not lose that, because it is a deposit. You will get the amount for registering the designation back if you submit a valid list of candidates. You will get the other amount back if you reach 75 percent of the electoral threshold.”
What is an electoral threshold?
An electoral threshold is the minimum number of votes that a political party must obtain in order to obtain one or more seats in a municipal council.
In Meierijstad, there were 66,965 eligible voters during the 2022 elections for the municipal council. The turnout was 32,135 (48.16%). These votes must be distributed among the 37 seats that this municipality has. This means that a party needs at least 869 votes for a seat.
To recover the deposit of 225 euros for the candidate list, a party must reach 75 percent of the electoral threshold. That was 652 votes in 2022.
Kevin’s party has no name and no one else on the list apart from the party leader himself. The formalities at the municipality were quickly over. Only then does the big work begin, namely the content and campaign. “I work on it for two to three hours a day. I quit my job so that I can now fully focus on the last things.”
“Starting a game on your own is quite a bit of work,” he adds. “You have to write your election manifesto, think about how you want to campaign, set up your own website and social media, come up with a logo and submit an election poster.”
Most of the work is now done and Kevin can start thinking about the campaign. “I like personal contact, so I will probably spread my story from door to door,” he says while thinking at the kitchen table. “I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also a bit nervous. It’s starting to come alive now.”
Here you can read all the stories about the 2026 municipal elections in Brabant.
