Chris Jansen

Jansen has told that he decided to become involved in politics in 2009 as a result of the trial of Geert Wilders, which Jansen regarded as a trial against the freedom of speech.[6] He first ran for political office during the 2010 municipal elections in the city Almere, where he was on place seven on the PVV's party list.[7] The Party for Freedom participated in the elections in two municipalities in the Netherlands, marking the first time the party took part in any municipal election.[8] Jansen received 179 preferential votes and became a member of the council in March, as his party won a plurality of 9 out of 39 seats.[9] However, his party did not become part of the coalition that makes up the executive board.[10]

During the next municipal election in 2014, Jansen was re-elected as the second person on the PVV's party list, while the party remained the largest party with again nine seats.[11][12] During election night, party leader Geert Wilders gave a speech during which he controversially asked the crowd whether they would want more or fewer Moroccans, resulting in a "fewer, fewer, fewer" chant.[13] All PVV councilmen in Almere except for Jansen distanced themselves from Wilders' statements a few days later, causing Jansen to declare in an interview on Radio 1 Journaal that he was the only PVV councilman left in Almere and that the other eight would have to continue under a different party name.[14][15] He was subsequently expelled from the municipal PVV caucus because of those statements and because the caucus leader said Jansen was following his own course. Two days later, the caucus made up with Jansen, and he became a member again.[14] Later that year, in August, he became the chairman of the municipal audit office.[16]

At the start of 2016, he called Mayor Franc Weerwind a "wally" (flapdrol) on Twitter after he had decided to not prohibit a meeting that included two controversial Islamic preachers.[17][18] Subsequently, a local party called for Jansen's removal as chair of the audit office.[19] Another reason for this was that Jansen had incorrectly suggested the year before that a former alderman was pressured by civil servants not to cooperate in an audit office investigation. Jansen had already acknowledged he had been wrong and had apologized to the municipal council.[20] He was not dismissed as not enough support for the move existed. Usually a term as chair lasts two years, but Jansen remained in the position until 2017, as an investigation was still ongoing.[21][19]

Jansen ran again for councilor during the 2018 municipal election and was re-elected for a third term as the fourth person on the party list.[22][23] However, his party slid down to become the third biggest party in Almere, receiving 6 out of an increased 45 seats.[22] Because of his position as party leader in Flevoland, Jansen was also involved in finding candidates for his party for other municipalities in his province.[24] During the formation of the executive board of the North Holland city Den Helder, Jansen was proposed as finance alderman. However, a local party dropped out of the formation at the last moment, and a coalition without the PVV was made.[25] He vacated his seat in the Almere municipal council during his third term in January 2019 after being appointed member to the House of Representatives.[1] After his term in the House had ended, Jansen successfully ran for municipal councilor again in the 2022 municipal elections as the PVV's fourth candidate. He was sworn in on 30 March.[26][27] He stepped down on 29 June of the following year, when he was appointed to the Flevoland provincial executive.[28]

Besides serving in the Almere council, Jansen has served for a number of years on the seven-member executive board of the Flevoland branch of the Association of Dutch Municipalities. His last year on the board was 2015.[29]

Jansen became a member of the States of Flevoland in March 2011, remaining in his position as councilman as well.[30] He won his seat during the 2011 Dutch provincial elections, being placed third on the party list.[31] The Party for Freedom came in third in Flevoland, receiving six seats.[32] Jansen became the PVV's party leader in the States in June 2013, after his predecessor Joram van Klaveren resigned because he could no longer combine the position with his membership of the House of Representatives.[33]

Jansen was the lijsttrekker of the Party for Freedom in Flevoland during the 2015 Dutch provincial elections, when his party received six seats – only fewer than the VVD.[34][35] Again, the PVV did not become part of the provincial-executive after the VVD had said they would not include the PVV in the formation talks if Jansen would not distance himself from Wilders' speech that included a "fewer, fewer, fewer" chant. Jansen refused to meet this demand.[36] The coalition that was formed fell in February 2018, because three of its four members resigned after they lost confidence in their fourth member, Ad Meijer (SP). Before that, the former three had tried to remove Meijer through a motion of no confidence in the States of Flevoland. However, not enough parties voted in favor. Jansen's party was among the parties that voted against the motion to cause, in his words, "maximal damage to the executive council". He later called the failure of the motion a "dream scenario", as it had resulted in the fall of executive.[37] When the Van Geel Commission came out with its advice about the surplus of large herbivores in the nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen later in 2018, Jansen opposed the proposed shooting of animals and instead advocated using birth control to decrease the population.[38]

In March 2019, Jansen was re-elected during the provincial elections, being again the party's lijsttrekker.[39] The PVV became the third biggest party, winning four seats in total.[40] He vacated his seat on 28 January 2020 after he had become an MP.[41] After his membership of the House had ended, Jansen returned to the States of Flevoland on 13 October 2021 to fill the consecutive temporary vacancies of Jan Meindert Keuter and Irene Joosse, and he returned as the PVV's caucus leader.[42][43][44][45][46] Following plans to build a registration center for asylum seekers in Bant – located in the province – Jansen filed a motion speaking out against any such center in Flevoland. It was carried by a narrow majority, and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) halted its plans days later.[47][48]

Jansen sought another term in March 2023 provincial elections as his party's lijsttrekker. He was re-elected, while the PVV lost one of its four seats.[49] The PVV became part of the coalition alongside the BBB, VVD, Christian Union, and SGP, and Jansen vacated his seat to become a Deputy for Economic Affairs and Higher Education in the provincial executive on 29 June 2023.[50][51][52] When asked in the confirmation hearing about earlier ant-Islamist statements, Jansen replied he would not distance himself from them but promised to stop making them as a deputy.[53]

In October 2019, MP Sietse Fritsma stepped down to start a business, resulting in Jansen becoming a member of the House of Representatives. Jansen was sworn in on 27 November 2019 and he indicated that he planned to resign from his other political positions.[30] Two people in front of Jansen in the line of succession, Karen Gerbrands and Robert Housmans, turned down the position; Gerbrands had resigned from the position of MP the year before and had criticized the party, and Housmans refused because he had recently become a member of the provincial-executive of Limburg.[56][57] In the House of Representative, Jansen was the PVV's spokesperson in the area of health care together with Fleur Agema, and he was a member of the parliamentary Committee for Health, Welfare and Sport and of the Petitions Committee.[4][58]

When the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the Netherlands in 2020 during the pandemic, Jansen criticized the government for not taking enough precautions to stop the virus. He pointed at the fact that other European countries had taken more action and said Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins should think ahead instead of solely listening to experts.[59] Besides, he accused the cabinet of withholding possible scenarios.[60]

Jansen unsuccessfully ran for re-election in the 2021 general election as the PVV's 21st candidate.[61] His party won 17 seats, and Jansen's 338 votes were not enough to meet the preferential-vote threshold.[62]