Johan Talsma from Dokkum gets out of Forum for Democracy. In Noordoost Fryslân, Talsma is representing the ELP (First Local Party) the board, maar sinds 2016 Talsma was nationally affiliated with Thierry Baudet. “At some point it will stop”, says Talsma. He no longer agrees with Baudet's ideas.
After the House of Representatives Van Haga, Smolders and Ephraim also turns their backs on party leader Arjan de Kok of Forum for Democracy in Gelderland. “It's a tough decision”, he says to Omroep Gelderland.
Thierry Baudet sees Forum for Democracy falling apart. Wybren of Haga, Olaf Ephraim and Hans Smolders (the numbers 2, 3 en 4 of the group) break with the party leader. The trio continues independently in the House of Representatives. It reports that Brabants Dagblad.
Contrary to previous expectations, Forum for Democracy has grown rapidly. Who should occupy all seats in the House of Representatives??
In addition to Joost Eerdmans, the independent member of parliament Wybren van Haga, who was expelled from the VVD, and the Tilburg local politician Hans Smolders, are also high on the Forum for Democracy candidate list for the March elections.
Olaf Ephraim has been treasurer of the Forum for Democracy for nearly a year. He is the financial man who - after Henk Otten - has to calibrate the moral compass of Thierry Baudet's party. But who is Ephraim? Follow the Money sheds light on the dark past of an ex-banker who owes his fortune to CumEx trading: fraudulent transactions in shares with and without dividends.
Forum for Democracy is the political start-up of the decade. The party originated in a cellar in the Amsterdam canal belt, and finds its supporters and sponsors in the world of big money and with godly men who fight for the restoration of Orthodox Christian values. But their beloved party has little to do with the Political Parties Financing Act.