This party is credited with thirteen seats in the polls with the possibility of being ahead of all the parties, including that of the Prime Minister.
The Dutch are called to vote on Wednesday March 15, 2023 for their provincial councils. This vote also determines the composition of the Senate. And more than ever, the suspense is there since a brand new party, a pro-farmer movement, is likely to come first in almost half of the twelve provinces of the country. At least that’s what the latest polls say.
BoerBurgerBeweging, or “Citizen Farmer Movement” in French, could be first in the fairly rural regions of Drenthe, Overijssel, Groningen, Friesland, but also Gelderland. And in the first chamber, the Senate, he could obtain up to 13 seats, ahead of all the other parties, including that of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberal right.
If ever the polls are right, it could be a real political earthquake in the Netherlands: for the moment, this very young party has only one elected member in the whole country, its leader Caroline van der Plas, who has become a deputy in 2021. And even if, here in the Netherlands in the provincial councils, to access responsibilities, you always have to know how to deal with the other parties, such scores could be perceived as a real disavowal for the government.
A movement born out of farmers’ protests
So the party was born in 2019, at the start of the peasant protest and farmer protests that have rocked the Netherlands in recent years. The Peasant Citizen Movement promises to oppose the government’s plan which aims to drastically reduce the Dutch herd and above all to buy back a large number of farms by force.
The Hague thus wants to achieve a sharp reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia, in order to protect the country’s natural areas. In this context, Caroline van der Plas says she is the only one still listening to the Dutch rural world. Here is what she confided to us last Sunday during a meeting in a farm in the south of the country: “It had been so long since farmers and their problems were not listened to. All that weighs on them at the moment… Uncertainty about the future of their business or the possibility of passing it on to their children.”
And this is not the only reason for the current enthusiasm for his party. In recent years, this former communicator of a peasant organization has made an impression. An example: In 2021, the day of her inauguration as an MP, she arrived in Parliament by tractor.