Member of Parliament Peter Kwint (SP) is not standing for re-election for the parliamentary elections in November. He reports this in a letter on Tuesday. Kwint gained name recognition as spokesperson for education, culture and media for the SP parliamentary group. He was a member of the parliamentary committee of inquiry into natural gas extraction in Groningen. Kwint has been involved in politics in The Hague since 2007, and has been a member of parliament since 2017.
In his farewell letter he writes: “This letter has been somewhere in the back of my phone notes for about a year and a half”. According to Kwint, his departure is not “founded by a quarrel or drama”, and he is still convinced that the SP is “the best vehicle for system change”. But, he writes, “I am no longer convinced that I am currently the best person to be an important part of that vehicle in the Chamber”. He has no concrete plans for after his departure in December, except that he hopes there is a “healthier balance” between his work and social life.
Kwint also writes that over the years he has become increasingly disappointed in politics in The Hague. “Just when I look at my own subjects, youth care is bursting at the seams, youth protection is not even nearly in order, a staff shortage in childcare will soon prevent it from becoming free, the teacher shortage is greater than ever and a quarter of the children who graduate from secondary school are functionally low literate.” According to Kwint, “knowing that none of those issues are even close to being resolved only makes leaving more frustrating.”
Kwint has always been a striking figure in the usually formal The Hague. He refused to wear suits, preferring t-shirts that show the tattoos on his arms. In personal interviews, Kwint’s taste in music often came up; the Sliedrecht resident is a fan of hardcore punk, and in the Chamber devoted himself to the protection of the music sector as a whole.
Read also Peter Kwint: ‘I want this note to end up in the induction folder of the new minister’
Deflation
The SP who leaves Kwint is not in good shape. Party leader Lilian Marijnissen has again been nominated by the party board as party leader, but no elections have yet been won under her rule, which started six years ago. Their former colleague SP MP Renske Leijten, who became a canon of votes, partly because of her role in unraveling the surcharge affair, also left the House of Representatives on 4 July.
Other parties are also empty. Retiring leaders such as Mark Rutte (VVD), Sigrid Kaag (D66) and Wopke Hoekstra (CDA) attract the most attention, but politicians of smaller stature are also rapidly leaving politics in The Hague. Party prominents Carola Schouten (CU), Sylvana Simons (Bij1), Farid Azarkan (Denk), Pieter Heerma (CDA) and Liane den Haan (Goud) have announced their imminent departure. Corinne Ellemeet has left GroenLinks, Member of Parliament since 2017 and for a long time the right hand of GL party chairman Jesse Klaver.