The Volt party is nevertheless considering an appeal against the judge’s ruling, which ruled on Wednesday that the party should take the suspended MP Nilüfer Gündoğan back to the faction. She had been expelled from the group after reports were made against her for transgressive behaviour, but according to the judge Volt ‘took the wrong path too expeditiously throughout the affair’.
Party leader Laurens Dassen said on Wednesday that he would follow up on the ruling because the judge had ‘tapped him on the fingers’. He agreed to talk to Gündoğan and apologized to her. But a spokesperson confirmed on Thursday after reporting from EenVandaag that the party is thinking about an appeal. The party’s lawyers are said to be discussing this at the moment.
Experts, including professor of constitutional law Wim Voermans and parliamentary historian Bert van den Braak, already spoke on Wednesday about a “strange” and “far-reaching” ruling by the judge, respectively. According to Bettie Drexhage, author and former civil servant, neither association law nor employment law apply here, although the judge did rely on that.
Volt won three seats in the House of Representatives after the elections last year. In the verdict, the judge showed understanding that the ‘young, relatively inexperienced party leadership’ took action after reports of transgressive behaviour. According to the judge, this must be viewed in the context of MeToo and the revelations of the BOOS program about The Voice of Holland.
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