''Jezus Leeft'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: ''Jesus Lives'') is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

that was founded in November 2013.

History

The history of the party lies with Joop van Ooijen's evangelisation; he originally spread the gospel by distributing flyers at cycling races in which his son participated. After an accident, he stopped using flyers. In 2008, he painted the text 'JEZUS REDT' (Jesus Saves) on the roof of his farm with reflective paint, which is generally used for painting road markings. The incident resulted in a civil case by the municipality of

Giessenburg Giessenburg () is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Molenlanden, and lies about 6 km west of Gorinchem Gorinchem ( ), pronunciation respelling, also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality ...

, which made headlines in 2009 and 2010. The party participated in Giessenlanden and some other municipalities in the

2014 Dutch municipal elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

. The party also participated in the

2014 European Parliament election in the Netherlands An election of the Members of the European Parliament from the Netherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands. Background Voting and election organisation ...

with nine candidates on the list. In the

2015 Dutch provincial elections Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 18 March 2015. Eligible voters elected the members of the States-Provincial in the twelve provinces. These elections also indirectly determined the members of the Senate, since the 56 ...

the party participated in

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, and

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. In none of these cases did the party win a seat. In the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

, Jesus Lives participated in seven electoral districts, with Florens van der Spek as party leader. The party won 3,099 votes, which was not enough for a seat. In the

2018 Dutch municipal elections Municipal elections were held on 21 March 2018 in 335 List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the Municipal council (Netherlands), municipal councils for the followi ...

the party took part in 15 different municipalities in three provinces. No seat was obtained in any of these. In the 2022 municipal elections, the party took part in 20 different municipalities, again being unable to win a seat. That year, the party gained its highest percentage of votes in the municipality of

Urk Urk (; ; ) is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Urk is first mentioned in historical records dating to the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Almere, an inland sea that would become par ...

, with 2.0%. The party was again running in the

2021 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power. The elect ...

, but gained no seats. The party also intended to participate during the 2023 general election, but failed to deliver a sufficient amount of so-called ' support statements' and was therefore left out by the

Electoral Council The Electoral Council (), until 1951 known as the central electoral committee (), is an election commission in the Netherlands. The Council is responsible for determining the results and the allocation of seats for elections for the House of Repr ...

Ideology

According to the party's founder, Joop van Ooijen, the party's primary purpose is making

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

known to the people. The party opposes

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, and supports

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

. Van Ooijen has said that the party's

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

stance is non-negotiable, having said that he would "not sit at the table with someone who supports abortion, that is not open to discussion. We will not negotiate, that's what's different between us and the other Christian parties." In that same interview, he expressed confidence that he would get the 64,000 votes in the

required to obtain a seat, but they would end up getting 3,099 votes. The party stands for freedom of expression of faith. However, the party is opposed to the construction of new mosques, synagogues, and other non-Christian places of worship.

Election results

Dutch general elections

References

{{Political parties in the Netherlands, state=collapsed 2013 establishments in the Netherlands Confessional parties in the Netherlands Eurosceptic parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 2013 Protestant political parties Right-wing parties in Europe

History

Ideology

Election results

Dutch general elections

See also

References