The chairman of the Dutch Christian Democratic party CDA has said he cannot envisage his party joining a coalition government which includes the far right Forum voor Democratie after the next general election, which will take place in March 2021.

The CDA in Noord-Brabant is taking part in a provincial coalition with the FvD, a move which has proved highly controversial within the national party.

In an open letter to party members, Rutger Ploum says that he does not see this happening on a national level. ‘Multiple statements made by the FvD’s political leader [Thierry Baudet] do not rhyme with the principles that we in the CDA hold dear,’ Ploum said.

It is the first time Ploum has commented directly on the alliance in the southern province. In particular, the ‘continual calling into question’ of the legal system and academia, ‘conflicts with our norms and values’, Ploum said, without mentioning Baudet by name.

The CDA is currently without a political leader and both finance minister Wopke Hoekstra and health minister Hugo de Jonge are after the job. Hoekstra has said he will not join a coalition with a party which ‘does not respect democracy and the rule of law’, while De Jonge has said he ‘does not see’ a coalition with the FvD happening.

‘I support what they both state,’ Ploum said. ‘It is completely clear at the moment that the national arm of Forum voor Democratie envisages a different society than we do.’