In Oldebroek, the SGP has a reformed opponent

An SGP member who leaves the local faction and starts his own party to compete against the SGP in the elections. This situation, exceptional for law-abiding Reformed, occurs in the Veluwe municipality of Oldebroek. The SGP, now the second party with four seats, has competition there from the Christelijk Verbond Oldebroek (CVO), founded by Tom de Nooijer.

De Nooijer is a well-known SGP member: he was elected as the country’s youngest councilor in 2018 and gained thousands of followers on Twitter due to his sharp criticism of the corona policy. At the end of 2021, he came into conflict with the local SGP board, which no longer wanted to place him on the candidate list. At the time, De Nooijer seemed done with politics, but surprised in January with his own party.

The CVO says: own residents first, we stand for charity Erik Doornwaard SGP party leader

The exact reason for the conflict between the SGP and De Nooijer remained vague, but his popularity is so great that several SGP candidates made the switch and are now candidates for the CVO. The question is how this relates to the statutes of the SGP, which state that SGP members may not disadvantage the national party “unreasonably”. A party spokesperson calls the establishment of CVO “very sad”, but says that De Nooijer and his colleagues have not been expelled.

Local SGP branches are not unique. In Urk, an SGP councilor, who was expelled from his party due to a conviction, started his own party. And with success: Hart voor Urk has also been on the council since 2010. In Ede, the Reformed Principle Party did not win a seat in 2018 from disappointed SGP members who found the SGP too little in principle about Sunday shopping.

De Nooijer’s chances seem better because of his local fame. The CVO quickly put together a program and is actively campaigning.

But how does the CVO actually differ from the SGP? The slogan of the CVO is ‘working from connection’, the word connection also occurs in the SGP program. Both sides are for Sunday rest, against the rainbow flag and for support for local farmers.

SGP party leader Erik Doornwaard also finds it difficult to name differences. After much thought, he starts talking about the care of people in need. “The CVO says: own residents first, we stand for charity.” Doornwaard hopes that voters will go for the original from the SGP instead of the new from CVO. Whether he can work with De Nooijer? “That’s really a wait and see, it’s up to the voter first.”