The Christian Democratic party (CDA) has paid particular attention to placing ethnic minorities on its list of potential MPs for the November general election, party spokesman Marcel Meijer told the NRC on Wednesday. “It is not about total numbers, but about quality,” Meijer said.

The search means that three minority candidates have been put in the top 50 CDA names. The highest placed is Kathleen Ferrier, of Surinamese origin, while Turkish-born Coskun Coruz in is 19th place. Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the islamic umbrella organisation CMO, who has been put at 35.
Amsterdam university politics professor Meindert Fennema told the NRC that he had his doubts whether the candidates would be enough to bring back minority voters who have deserted the CDA in droves. In the May local elections, more than 80% of the Holland’s minority voters voted for the Labour party (PvdA).