Erik Ziengs sat for the VVD in the House of Representatives for almost eleven years. This means he was not even the nestor at the Binnenhof, but he is a seasoned politician who can explain the ins and outs of ‘The Hague’. What does Ziengs expect from the candidate MPs from Drenthe?
Of the 35 Drenthe contenders for a place in the chamber benches, the lion’s share has already been eliminated, Ziengs expects. “If you make an analysis based on the polls, you end up with possibly five people who could end up there.”
If the penny falls in the wrong direction for Drenthe, that number could drop to ‘about three’, according to Ziengs. “And that is really too little,” adds the Assen resident.
Drenthe candidates who do not want to place their political fate in the hands of the final number of seats have an escape hatch by entering the Chamber with preferential votes. Ziengs was already successful with this method in the national elections in 2012, when he convinced about nine thousand voters to color the box next to his name red.
However, this political lifeline is reserved for a few. “It is hell of a job to enter the House with preferential votes,” Ziengs states realistically. “Drenthe has just over half a million inhabitants and that is a small percentage of the national electorate. So you have to take very big steps to get preferential votes in the House.”
If that scenario happens and Drenthe is underrepresented in the House in the eyes of Ziengs, it would be a loss for our province, he believes. “There are issues in Drenthe that are often ignored in the West of the country. I’ll put it bluntly, but if you have a representative in parliament who is able to draw attention to these issues, then that has a lot of added value.”
There are currently two Drenthes in the House of Representatives: Mark Strolenberg (VVD) from Hoogeveen and Eline Vedder (CDA) from Ruinerwold. Strolenberg is not up for election in November; Vedder is number two on the CDA electoral list. In no other party has a Drenthe candidate MP been assigned such a high position.
Watch the interview with Ziengs below about Drenthe candidates in the upcoming House of Representatives elections