Paedophile party 'will not' contest elections 04/10/2006 00:00

4 October 2006

AMSTERDAM — The controversial 'paedophile party' does not expect to be able to take part in the Dutch parliamentary elections on 22 November.

The Party for the Love of One's Neighbour, Freedom and Diversity (PNVD) said on Thursday it doesn't expect to gather the necessary amount of signatures.

To participate in the national elections, new political parties need to present to electoral authorities 570 signatures of support.

"I think that we can say that we won’t be able to participate," PNVD secretary Norbert de Jonge says in current affairs show Netwerk, which will be broadcast on Thursday night.

"So no one will see how great the support really is, what essentially is a pity," he said.

The PNVD is opposed to the ban on sex with youths and believes that child pornography should no longer be criminally prosecutable.

The founding of the party was highly controversial earlier this year, attracting even international debate and attention.

It is not clear how many signatures the party has accumulated. However, at the start of September, the party had 100 signatures.

Netwerk followed the party chiefs for three months and found that one of them, treasurer Ad van de Berg, was convicted in the 1980s for sex abuse crimes.

But the current affairs show claims that Van de Berg is still entering into relationships with minors.

It said the man now has a 13-year-old friend, who lives in his neighbourhood.

Police have warned the boy's parents, who have reportedly banned their son from having any further contact with Van de Berg.

But the documentary shows that the boy still visits him

New political parties have to lodge their candidate list with the Electoral Council on 10 October.

[Copyright Expatica News 2006]

Subject: Dutch news