Wybren van Haga | |
|---|---|
 Van Haga in 2019 | |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 31 October 2017 – 5 December 2023 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Wybren Ridley van Haga (1967-01-31)31 January 1967 (age 58) The Hague,Netherlands |
| Political party | Belang van Nederland(since 2021) |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Residence | Haarlem |
| Alma mater | Delft University of Technology |
| Occupation |
|
| Profession | Engineer |
Wybren Ridley van Haga (born 31 January 1967) is a Dutch politician and engineer who was a member of theHouse of Representatives between 2017 and 2023. He was initially elected as a member of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but was expelled from the party in 2019, causing thethird Rutte cabinet to lose its parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent MP before joiningThierry Baudet'sForum for Democracy party, where he was placed second on theparty list in the2021 election. He has since quit Forum for Democracy and created his own political partyBelang van Nederland.
Van Haga was born in 1967 inThe Hague and grew up inHaarlem. His father is Dutch and his mother was originally from Britain.[1] He completed thegymnasium with the natural sciencesspecialization. He studiedelectrical engineering at theDelft University of Technology.[2] He also completed the first phase of alaw study atLeiden University. He served hismandatory military service as acommando.[2]
He subsequently worked as an engineer for theShell Oil Company, and was based variously inScotland,Gabon andOman before starting a property development business.[3]
Van Haga first joined the VVD in 1992. In 2010, he was elected as a municipal councilor inHaarlem.[4] During the 2017 general election, he was elected as an MP for the VVD in the House of Representatives. During the election, his candidacy was endorsed byLabour Party politician and former mayor of HaarlemBernt Schneiders.[5]
In 2017, Van Haga was investigated over an alleged concealment of a number of problems with local regulations during his time as a councilor.[6] In 2019, he was expelled from the VVD parliamentary group after he was convicted for drunk driving and accused of interfering with his business operation as an MP.[7] This caused the third Rutte cabinet to lose their parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent before announcing he had become a member of theForum for Democracy party.[8] Van Haga already had close ties with the FvD group as an independent.
Van Haga left FvD together with two others in response to a poster put out by the party which compared theCOVID-19 lockdowns to theNazi occupation of the Netherlands. He has since created his own political party calledBelang van Nederland (BVNL). The new party had three seats in the House of Representatives.[a] Van Haga has described it as 'classical liberal' and 'classical right-wing'.[9] He ran forre-election in November 2023, but BVNL did not win any seats. He again led his party in theJune 2024 European Parliament election, but the BVNL's vote share of 0.4% was insufficient for a seat.[10][11]
Van Haga is married and has four children.[1]
| Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party seats | Individual | |||||||
| 2010 | HaarlemMunicipal Council | VVD | 113 | 5 | Lost[b] | |||
| 2014 | Haarlem Municipal Council | VVD | 5 | Won | ||||
| 2017 | House of Representatives | VVD | 41 | 2,156 | 33 | Lost[b] | [12] | |
| 2018 | Haarlem Municipal Council | VVD | 15 | 127 | 5 | Lost | ||
| 2021 | House of Representatives | FVD | 2 | 241,193 | 8 | Won | [13] | |
| 2022 | Haarlem Municipal Council | BVNL | 16[c] | 400 | 1 | Lost | ||
| 2022 | Amsterdam Municipal Council | BVNL | 12[c] | 463 | 0 | Lost | ||
| 2022 | Voorne aan Zee Municipal Council | BVNL | 11[c] | 171 | 2 | Lost | ||
| 2023 | House of Representatives | BVNL | 1 | 37,472 | 0 | Lost | [10] | |
| 2024 | European Parliament | BVNL | 1 | 19,502 | 0 | Lost | [11] | |
Media related toWybren van Haga at Wikimedia Commons