Local News from the Netherlands

Local elections will take place in the Netherlands on March 18, 2026. In several municipalities across the Netherlands (Amsterdam, The Hague, Nijmegen, Rotterdam), democratic parties have already declared that they will not cooperate with Thierry Baudet’s Forum voor Democratie (FvD) and its new chairwoman, Lidewij de Vos. The focus is primarily on the mostly young candidates and the youth organization JFvD.

As affverzet reports, “the candidacy of several far-right organizations such as the Geuzenbond and the Dutch People’s Union (NVU)” on the municipal lists was the last straw. In The Hague, for example, Timon Busscher is third on the FvD list. In 2020, it became known that he had referred to the terrorists Brenton Tarrant and Anders Breivik as a “divine duo” in JFvD app messages. In Nijmegen, too, the parties are refusing to cooperate with the FvD because Daan Meershoek is on the FvD list. He was active in the Geuzenbond, claims he is no longer a member, but refuses to distance himself from the organization, which is under surveillance by the Dutch intelligence service. Last summer, the group’s informal leader, Thomas D., was arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist offense. In late February 2026, he was sentenced in Rotterdam to two years in prison for weapons possession, one year of which was suspended.

In Nieuwegein, meanwhile, Frank Folkerts—a former member of the National Socialist Dutch People’s Union (NVU)—is the FvD’s number two candidate. Also noteworthy is the case of Kayleigh van Koppen, who is second on the FvD list in Delft. Last October, she participated arm in arm with John Abrossimow in an anti-immigration demonstration in Amsterdam. At the demonstration, van Koppen and Abrossimow marched behind a banner reading “Pro White, Anti Israel.” As a member of the racist and anti-Semitic party “White Lives Matter,” Abrossimow was sentenced on appeal in January to six months in prison, four of which were suspended, for projecting racist slogans onto the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam.

Christmas Gala with International Guests

Both van Koppen and Abrossimov can be seen on the website of the youth organization JvFD dancing at the group’s Christmas party. A report in De Volkskrant highlighted those in attendance, including Žan Žalec from Slovenia and Severin Köhler of the AfD. Žalec is the Slovenian coordinator for the Patriots Network, of which Köhler was also a member initially. The German from Ditzingen (Baden-Württemberg) had been criticized within the AfD for his close ties to the Identitarian Movement and faced expulsion proceedings, the outcome of which is unknown. In Germany, Köhler has hardly been seen in public for some time. The AfD and FvD collaborate within the ESN (Europe of Sovereign Nations) in the European Parliament.

Read more about the international strategies of the Dutch far right in this article by Leonie de Jonge: Extreem-rechts denkt mondiaal.