Party for the Future Partij voor de Toekomst | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | PvdT |
Leader | Henk Krol |
Chairperson | Henk Otten[1] |
Founders | Henk Krol Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen |
Founded | 3 May 202050PLUS); 28 June 2020 (merged with the Otten Group)[2] | (split from
Dissolved | 18 October 2020 |
Succeeded by | Otten Group Henk Krol List Splinter |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre to centre-right[3] |
Colours | Yellow |
Website | |
pvdt | |
The Party for the Future (Dutch: Partij voor de Toekomst; [pɑrˈtɛi voːr də ˈtukɔmst]) was a short-lived political party in the Netherlands that had been active in the House of Representatives as the Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen Group (Dutch: Groep Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen). Founded in May 2020, it had intended to participate in the 2021 general election, but was dissolved in October 2020 due to internal disagreements.[6]
The Party for the Future (PvdT) was founded on 3 May 2020 by independent members of the House of Representatives Henk Krol and Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen.[2] The former had been the parliamentary leader of 50PLUS since 10 September 2014, but left the party on 3 May 2020 following an internal dispute with the rest of the party's leadership.[7][8] The latter had been active as an independent MP since her departure from the Party for the Animals on 16 July 2019, and had become a member of 50PLUS in December 2019.[2]
Since the party was not formally elected into the House of Representatives, the name "Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen Group" (Dutch: Groep Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen) had to be used for the new parliamentary group formed by Krol and Van Kooten-Arissen.
In June 2020, negotiations between the Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen Group and Senators Henk Otten and Jeroen de Vries led to the merger of the Otten Group (GO) – a party that split from Forum for Democracy – into the Party for the Future.[4][9]
On 5 August 2020, Van Kooten-Arissen announced that she had ended her cooperation with Krol. She claimed to have been left out of the decision-making surrounding the merger, and stated that she could not accept that Otten was to dictate the future policies of the party as its chairperson.[10] As a result, the Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen Group was dissolved on 8 August 2020.[7]
On 18 October 2020, co-founder and leader Henk Krol also left the party after a dispute with board members Otten and De Vries over the expulsion of the party's treasurer, and an intimidating text message sent by De Vries to one of Krol's employees.[6] Initially, Otten had expressed his intention to continue using the name "Party for the Future", but later began using the name "Otten Group" again.[6][11]