PVV MP Martin Bosma is new Dutch parliamentary chairman
Far-right MP Martin Bosma has been elected chairman of the lower house of parliament after a secret vote involving 145 out of 150 MPs.
Bosma, who has been an MP for the PVV since 2006, has been deputy chairman for the past two cabinets and has, commentators say, mainly been a strong and neutral stand-in.
Bosma received 75 votes in the second round of voting, while Tom van der Lee, from the PvdA-GroenLinks alliance, polled 66. Voting was anonymous and in writing.
The result means that at least 13 MPs from the four parties currently in talks on forming a new government did not vote for Bosma. Together the four parties control 88 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Bosma said in a short speech after his win that he wanted to dedicate his “modest victory” to all the PVV politicians who have “paid a major price for the fact that they back the PVV”.
“They have lost their jobs, failed to get promotion, their children have been banned from sports clubs. But no-one has paid a higher price for his ideas than Geert Wilders, and I want to thank him.”
Bosma is seen as the party’s main ideas man. He has been heavily criticised for his support of replacement theory – “everyone can see it happening,” he told MPs earlier – and for describing parliament as “fake”.
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