Denk, the party founded by two Dutch Turkish MPs who split from Labour in 2015, has published its list of candidates for Rotterdam city council when local elections are held in March.
Party leader Tunahan Kuzu unveiled the top six candidates on the city’s Coolsingel on Sunday. The name at the top of the list, Stephan van Baarle, was a surprise to many, although the 26-year-old who studied sociology at the city’s Erasmus University has worked as a parliamentary researcher for Denk since its foundation.
Van Baarle, whose father is of Turkish origin, said: ‘I had a choice: did I carry on reading research papers into inequality or go and do something about it?’