Sybrand Buma, who has led the Christian Democratic party in parliament since 2010 and was appointed party leader in 2012, is quitting national politics to take over as mayor of Leeuwarden.

Buma, who has been an MP for 17 years, told parliamentary reporters he had given his ‘maximum’ during his time in The Hague and is pleased he has been able to build ‘a more confident party’.

The move to Leeuwarden, he said, is ‘a great honour’. Buma, a native of Friesland, is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who were also both mayors in the north for a time.

Several contenders to take over the job as CDA party leader have already been named, including current finance minister Wopke Hoekstra and health minister Hugo de Jonge.

Hoekstra has been upping his profile in recent months, and played a prominent role in the recent row over KLM – in which the Dutch state has increased its minority shareholding without telling France. Although seen as a relative newcomer, he was in the senate on behalf of the CDA from 2011 to 2017.

Earlier this month, he gave a major speech in Berlin in which he called on the EU to wake up to its problems and set new priorities.

De Jonge is a former party worker and political assistant to former prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende. He was also alderman in Rotterdam and, according to commentators, is considered a political heavyweight.

Parliament

However, both De Jonge and Hoekstra are in the cabinet, so the CDA needs to appoint a new leader of the parliamentary party – who will take the central role in parliamentary debates – before that election can take place.

MPs Madeleine van Toorenburg and Pieter Heerma are both being tipped for that job, commentators said.

The vote for party leader – who will take the CDA into the next election – is likely to be held later.

‘The disadvantage for both Hoekstra and De Jonge is that they are both Protestants,’ said RTL commentator Frits Wester. ‘After 17 years with a Protestant at the helm, the CDA needs a recognisable Catholic, preferably from the south.’