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Esther Ouwehand is stepping down as leader of the Party for the Animals (PvdD), handing both the party leadership and its parliamentary group to fellow MP Christine Teunissen.
Ouwehand, who has led the left-wing animal rights party since 2019, will remain in parliament as an ordinary MP to focus on two of her own bills: one to end factory farming and another to limit the suffering of animals at slaughter.
“So I am carrying on, but from now on in a different role: back to being an MP,” she said in a statement, describing the PvdD as a mature and healthy party that was ready to hand over.
Teunissen, an MP since 2018, said the party is needed within Dutch politics now more than ever.
The change follows several turbulent years. The party grew to six seats in 2021 but slipped down to three in 2023 and stayed there at last year’s election.
Co-founder Niko Koffeman quit in 2025 and a breakaway group, Vrede voor Dieren (Peace for Animals), was set up by members who felt Ouwehand had drifted too far from animal welfare. She survived a power struggle with the party board in 2023, a fight she said “took a lot out of me”.
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