Enough preference votes for former student Mikal ‘Internship allowance’ Tseggai

Mikal Tseggai of GroenLinks-PvdA is elected to the House of Representatives after all. This advocate of mandatory internship allowances and former master’s student at Erasmus University received just enough votes. BBB and PVV, on the other hand, will have to look for new education spokespeople.

Five women are entering the House of Representatives thanks to preferential votes, four of whom belong to the twenty-member GroenLinks-PvdA faction. Tseggai, who graduated in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, was number 25 on the list and needed 17,000 votes to gain a seat. She received 18,000.

As MBO spokesperson, Tseggai championed mandatory internship allowances in the House of Representatives. Shortly before the elections, she received a commitment from Education Minister Gouke Moes, who also wants to explore the idea of a compulsory internship allowance.

It had already been clear that her party colleague Barbara Kathmann, who was alderman in Rotterdam until 2021, would enter the House despite her low position on the list. Kathmann is a digital affairs specialist and consistently argues for strengthening the resilience of IT systems in education. More than 29,000 people voted for her, the Electoral Council announced today.

Education spokespeople

In the 2023 elections, many education spokespeople left the House of Representatives. This time, most of them are staying. Harmen Krul (CDA), Luc Stultiens (GroenLinks–PvdA), Sandra Beckerman (SP) and Jan Paternotte (D66) were all placed high on their party lists. On behalf of Forum for Democracy, Pepijn van Houwelingen will remain in parliament.

Claire Martens has climbed considerably on the VVD list. Yet in the run-up to the elections, it was mainly her VVD colleague Queeny Rajkowski who took part in many education debates. She too will take her seat in the new House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Only BBB and PVV will lose their education spokespeople. BBB is losing seats, which means Claudia van Zanten, who was number five on the list, has just missed out. At PVV, Reinder Blaauw, Nico Uppelschoten and Patrick van der Hoeff were placed too low to gain a seat.