Several candidates from international backgrounds have secured seats in the local council following the recent elections. Within the GroenLinks-PvdA (GL-PvdA) coalition, Gisèle Mambre, who is of Caribbean origin, has officially earned a place. She will be joined by Turkish-origin Zeynep Demir on the city council through preferential votes, and, maybe, given her position on the list, too. As GL-PvdA is the largest party, they are expected to have two to three alderpersons (wethouders) appointed, which would naturally lead to more proportional appointments from the list. It’s the responsibility of the largest party to initiate coalition talks.
The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) also features several successful international candidates. These include Italian-born ex-fraction chairperson Miriam Frosi, Cindy Rekker of Surinamese descent, 40-year-old Fouad Arrabbany from the Vaartbroek district, and Chaitali Sengupta of Indian origin. All four are set to join the local authority.
International representation extends to other parties as well. Alina Totti, originally from Romania, will represent D66 in the council during this term. Volkan Memiş, the ex-party vice chair of Kurdish origin, will retain his seat. While his brother, Murat Memis, will also retain his berth and be the lone representative of the Socialist Party. These appointments reflect the growing diversity of the city’s political landscape, as representatives from various global backgrounds take on active roles in local governance. Earlier, News Brainport presented the diversity in the candidate lists put forth by parties.
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