Local Brabant (, ) is a regionalist political party 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 ...

, a partnership of various local political parties in the province of

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 ...

. The party is represented in the Provincial Council in that province and is a member of

Independent Politics Netherlands The Independent Politics Netherlands (, OPNL), formerly known as the Independent Senate Group (, OSF), is a federation of local and regional political parties in the Netherlands that competes in elections to the Dutch Senate. OPNL is composed o ...

History

Local Brabant participated for the first time in the 2015 provincial elections. The party obtained 1.9% of the votes, just enough for one seat, which was taken by Jan Heijman. Four years later, the party again participated in the 2015 provincial elections. With

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

Wil van Pinxteren, Local Brabant managed to slightly improve its score. The party obtained 2.5% and retained its seat. Van Pinxteren was previously a councilor in Haaren for the

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and ...

and later as a one-man faction of local party Lokaal Liberaal Haaren. Before that he was a Provincial Councillor, also on behalf of the VVD. From 15 May 2020, Local Brabant became part of the

Provincial Executive The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner (chair) ...

of North Brabant. After long coalition negotiations, an agreement was reached between VVD, CDA, FvD and Local Brabant. Van Pinxteren was the representative on behalf of Local Brabant and had the portfolio of Leisure, Culture and Sports, and Governance and Security. In the Provincial Council he was succeeded by Harold van den Broek. In July 2021, the coalition stopped cooperation with FvD, after which Local Brabant went back into opposition. After Van den Broek became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in the municipality of

Maashorst Maashorst is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the south of the Netherlands, formed from the merger of Landerd and Uden. The municipality came into existence on 1 January 2022. The name Maashorst refers to the nature reserve of ...

in January 2022, Van Pinxteren again became a Provincial Councillor on behalf of Local Brabant. Marc Oudenhoven was

lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Neth ...

for the 2023 provincial elections, when the party won two seats. Local Brabant has been represented by him and Hubert Koevoets in the Provincial Council since 29 March 2023. Davy Jansen has been a '' duo-raadslid'' for Local Brabant since 26 May 2023. The party was again involved in the executive negotiations, and Marc Oudenhoven became a deputy.

Ideology

The party has no clear ideology and accuses the major political movements (that is,

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and

Christian democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

) of having become "increasingly trapped in their own way of thinking." According to Local Brabant, the growth of support for local parties is a response to this and the party aims to also represent this voice in the provincial government.

Election results

Provincial elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Regionalist parties in the Netherlands 2014 establishments in the Netherlands Centrist parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 2014 Politics of North Brabant