Bram van Ojik was chosen as the new leader of the green party GroenLinks on Monday afternoon, say press reports.



Van Ojik replaces Jolanda Sap, who resigned last Friday after it emerged she had lost the support of the party’s board. The chairwoman and the rest of the board resigned last Saturday.

GroenLinks support collapsed at September’s general election, with the party retaining just four of its ten seats in the previous parliament.

The 58-year-old Van Ojik was number two on the list at the election. He was also a GroenLinks MP in the early 1990s. He studied economics, worked for environmental organisation Milieudefensie and was ambassador to the African country of Benin.

GroenLinks has been damaged by its support for the Dutch police training mission in Afghanistan, the spring budget agreement and internal divisions over the leadership.