With her suggestion that Job Cohen should not be the only candidate for the PvdA party leadership, Lilianne Ploumen has put the question of his succession firmly on the table. Who, if anyone, will replace him? the papers ask.

Most likely candidate
Lodewijk Asscher (1974) is mentioned as the most likely candidate for the job, the Volkskrant writes, although the Amsterdam city council executive is not a member of the parliamentary party. ‘It would be extraordinary to have a leader who has been outside the parliamentary process for two years’. Still, Asscher, who comes from a prominent Jewish family of diamond traders and lawyers, is ‘highly regarded in the party and has a good track record.’
Next up is Jeroen Dijsselbloem (1966). From a formal point of view the party’s vice chairman would be the most logical choice. He is a solid politician although ‘his rather pinched facial expression does not make him a favourite with the public’. However, ‘Eijsselbloem has never displayed any ambition for the leadership’, the paper writes.
Predators
According to Elsevier columnist Eric Vrijsen this is just a ploy. ‘Now that Ploumen has opened the door to a leadership challenge ‘the predators will come forward’. That they haven’t before is because such a challenge would have been seen as damaging to the party which would have ruined the challenger’s chances from the start, is his analysis.
One such ambitious potential leader could be Ronald Plasterk (1957), the Volkskrant writes. ‘Plasterk has focused on Finance and his performance in this field has attracted attention. His visible and political way of operating betray a great deal of ambition.’
Elsevier also mentions chair of the parliamentary party Mariëtte Hamer (1958) as a possible contender, although Hamer herself has come in for criticism in the past and had to be ‘saved’ by Lilianne Ploumen and Wouter Bos.
Popular
Her fiercest critic was fellow candidate for the chairman’s job Diederik Samsom (1971) who is also mentioned for the party leadership. The former nuclear physicist and Greenpeace campaigner who made headlines recently for volunteering to patrol a problem neighbourhood in Amsterdam, ‘is popular with the left wing of the party but also with the parliamentary party’, the Volkskrant writes.
Frans Timmermans (1961) the party’s former European affairs junior minister, also has a wealth of experience but ‘is lacking in the charisma department’.