VVD stalwart Loek Hermans will not be interim mayor of Zutphen because of a lack of support for his candidacy, broadcaster Nos said on Tuesday.

Hermans, who resigned from the senate in November, met local party leaders on Monday morning and concluded he has ‘too little support’ in the Gelderland town, the broadcaster said.

Hermans was supposed to take over the job on February 1 for a maximum of nine months and had originally won cross party support.

Officials told the broadcaster local party leaders did not have doubts about Hermans’ managerial qualities and integrity but felt the appointment had ‘come too soon’.

However, one group of local residents had set up a petition calling on the province not to give him the job, local paper Stentor said. Hermans resigned as a senator after the bankruptcy of a massive home nursing group was partly blamed on his failings.

Hermans currently has at least 10 additional jobs, according to the Telegraaf.  He is an advisor to national dentistry organisation NMT, the private school group Luzac and the hospitality lobby group Horeca Nederland.

He is also chairman of the Dutch publishers’ organisation and a member of the supervisory board at Radboud University in Nijmegen.