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Former PVV members speak out about 'amateurish' movement

Former members of Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party (PVV) have described its organisation as amateurish and badly managed.

Internal criticism, especially where it concerns Wilders himself, is hardly tolerated, journalists are regarded as enemies and debate is held back by an preoccupation with party unity, according to NRC Handelsblad.

After riding high in the opinion polls throughout 2011, the PVV has lost ground in recent months. The latest opinion poll by Maurice de Hond forecasts it would lose three of its 24 seats in the Dutch Lower House (Tweede Kamer).

Several members have either left or been expelled from the party in the last year, most recently Limburg representative Cor Bosman after it emerged he had included racist remarks in an internal email to a Labour Party (PvdA) counterpart.

Wilders also attracted criticism from Queen Beatrix after he asked questions in parliament about her decision to wear a headscarf during a recent visit to Oman - a remark dismissed by the Queen as “sheer nonsense”.

Wilders’s fondness for blunt language, which triggered a court case against him for insulting Muslims, is shared by many of his colleagues, but some former members are unsettled by the PVV’s “tough” image.

They also criticise under-developed people management and a lack of etiquette in internal party communications.

The NRC’s survey is a rare insight into the internal workings of the PVV, which has grown up rapidly over the last few years to become the third-largest group in Parliament.

Wilders did not reply to the newspaper’s request for a comment.

Source: NRC: Voormalige PVV'ers: de partij is amateuristisch en hard

Photo by Roel Wijnants