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UvA alumnus Martin Bosma will chair the House of Representatives “with a steady hand”
His previous attempts to become Speaker of the House of Representatives were finally honored at a third attempt last night: PVV Member of Parliament and UvA alumnus Martin Bosma was elected Speaker of House of Representatives. Two previous attempts - in 2016 and 2021 - snubbed.
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Martin Bosma (1964) studied political science at the UvA, where he graduated in 1990. It had not been a great time at the UvA. “The UvA is a left-wing stronghold, not always a joy,” Bosma says, looking back on that time (in Dutch). He then left for New York. “There I got a master’s at the New School for Social Research, a university that, as a ‘University in Exile,’ took in many scientists who had to flee national socialism,” Bosma says.
Bosma switched to politics after a journalistic career, initially with Group Wilders, the breakaway faction of the VVD and forerunner of the PVV. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Lower House, always on behalf of the PVV. He is seen as the right-hand man of party leader Geert Wilders and writes many of his speeches, among other things. Bosma has several publications to his name.
Phd
After his first candidacy for the parliamentary chairmanship failed in 2016, Bosma appeared to have other irons in the fire to get ahead in life: he wanted to do a PhD at the UvA, specifically with emeritus professor of political theory Meindert Fennema, who died last June (in Dutch). Fennema gave a podcast interview about it, reproduced on the Vrij Nederland site (in Dutch).
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Asked by the interviewers why he wanted to be Bosma’s supervisor, Fennema replied: “Because racists also have the right to a PhD.” Asked whether he would be confident that Bosma would do his PhD with flying colours, Fennema replied: “Well, with flying colours I don’t think, because he does it in the evenings and at weekends. But I think he will definitely succeed, because he is an extremely talented and extremely hard-working man.” The promotion has so far failed to materialize.
In his cover letter, Bosma announced his intention to chair the Chamber “with a steady hand”. What that looks like, we can find out from today. Bosman won the election in the second round with 75 of the 146 votes cast from the GroenLinksPvdA candidate and also UvA alumnus Tom van der Lee.
