Candidates for the pro-animal PvdD in the European parliamentary elections in May include South African writer and Nobel prize winner John M. Coetzee, the party said on its website at the weekend.

The PvdD has put together a string of writers, academics and philosophers to act as lijstduwer – a ceremonial position at the bottom of the list of formal candidates. Becoming a lijstduwer – literally list pusher – shows support for the party’s policies without taking a winnable position on the list.

Other foreigners who have stepped forward to close the list are American philosopher and animal rights campaigner Tom Regan and Canadian philosopher Will Kymlicka.

The party says Dutch voting law also allows people from outside the EU to stand for election, although the election council is still studying the plan.

The PvdD list also includes Dutch prize-winning authors Maarten Biesheuvel, A. F. Th. van der Heijden and Jan Siebelink, academics Peter Nicolaï, Ewald Engelen and Paul Cliteur and filmmaker Eddy Terstall.

The campaign is headed by Groningen provincial councillor Anja Hazekamp. The PvdD is not currently represented in the European parliament.

The PvdD’s European election manifesto (in English)