A Political Supernova

Dear readers, we might be standing witness to an event hardly ever seen by human eyes: the implosion of a political party. Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) appears to be in the uncontrollable process of failing under the increased strain of political power and grandeur. The first signs of the slow collapse became visible a little under four years ago when Dion Graus, a PVV parliamentarian since day one, came under fire (Dutch language alert) for having, apparently, having physically assaulted his 8-month-pregnant wife in 2002. Furthermore, he was reported to have threathened to kill his father-in-law, as well as having threathened and stalked his mistress. All of the charges were subsequently dropped and it should be stressed that Graus was not convicted. But Wilder's, in light of these serious accusations, should have reconsidered Graus' continued membership of the PVV parliamentary faction.

Next, in September 2009 Hero Brinkman, a member of the Dutch Parliament for the PVV was suspected (Dutch language alert) of having punched a barman in the face. The barman did not press charges and Brinkman was let off with a rapping of the knuckles by the Parliament's official Press Centre, Nieuwspoort, where the alleged incident took place. Then in March of this year Brinkman was accused (Dutch language alert) of causing grievous bodily harm and attempted manslaughter. Again the charges were dropped and no prosecution took place. Although Brinkman has never been convicted of any crime, the mere appearance of impropriety caused by multiple run-ins with the law should have been reason enough for Wilders not to put him on the PVV's list of candidates during last June's elections.

These last two weeks the shady dealings of PVV parliamentarians have been coming on faster. PVV MP Eric Lucassen, it emerged last week, was convicted (Dutch language alert) in 2002 of having had improper sexual relations with a subordinate while he was an instructor at a Dutch military installation in Ermelo. Lucassen was also accused (Dutch language alert) of having attacked at a man at a coffeeshop in Haarlem and having wrecked his brother-in-law's car. He was not convicted of the latter two offences. Another MP, James Sharpe has faced charges (Dutch language alert) of causing bodily harm of a fellow athlete when a member of PSV Athletics Club in the late 80s and Sharpe's Hungarian dating-company Digitania was convicted (Dutch language alert) of fraud in Hungary for having used pictures of women without their consent and ordered to pay a fine of 256,000 Euros. Finally, a fifth MP, Richard de Mos is rumoured (Dutch language alert) to have lied on his CV, claiming to have worked as a School Headmaster, while having only completed the required training course.

That makes a grand total of five, count 'em, five, PVV members of Parliament who have done things which are at least improper behaviour for a politician, if not outright criminal. That's almost a quarter of all PVV MPs! For a party that stresses law and order, this is quite an achievement. But Wilders, instead of cutting these people loose, is sheltering them from the storm. All five are still members of PVV faction, and it'll be a small miracle if he expels at least one of them. And at this rate, by next week all PVV MPs will be forced to face some deeds from their past. No political party can survive such behaviour by its politicians or the inaction of its leader. At some point the collapse will become unstoppable and the political star that is the PVV will go supernova.