Claas did not even vote for himself, but for a younger candidate. “I am now 74 and young people should be given a chance, also in politics. I think that still happens too little.”
He thinks it’s a shame that the youngster didn’t make it in the end. Yet it does not change his belief: innovation is necessary.
With his zero votes, Claas is no exception in last week’s elections in our province. In Central Drenthe, two candidates achieved the same score. There were also candidates in Hoogeveen and Tynaarlo who did not receive a single vote.
“It doesn’t matter much to me, those zero votes,” Claas remains matter-of-fact. “I only saw this result one or two days after the elections. There are also people who received one vote. You could ask them if it is their own. I actually think that is more pathetic than zero votes.”
Politics is deeply embedded in his life. Together with his wife Maaike, who has a long political career herself, it is a daily topic of conversation. “We wake up with it and we go to bed with it,” he says.
He finds it completely logical that she received votes in the same municipality and on behalf of the same party and he did not. “That’s fine, she deserves that too.”
His own political roots lie in the 1990s, when he was a councilor in the former municipality of Diever. It was the work close to practice that always appealed to him. “I have also been asked to join a party board, but I don’t like that. In a municipal council you are busy with very concrete things. There you can try to find good solutions.”
That involvement was not without sacrifices. With a busy job and three growing children, he and his wife had to balance. “Maaike once said: we have to do this differently, because I now have to do everything alone. And she was right about that.”
For Claas, politics is ultimately not about seats or scores, but about commitment. He will also be ready for the next election if necessary. Even if it is just to distribute leaflets or have conversations. “It’s all part of it. A person has to stay active. In whatever way.”
And optimism? That is still there. “We live in a fantastic country, in a beautiful municipality. The situation in the world is not always positive. But then you shouldn’t give up. Then you have to do something.”
