Democrats 66 leadership election, 2006
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The 2006 Democrats 66 leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Democrats 66 after incumbent Boris Dittrich announced his retirement from national politics. Dittrich who had been the leader of the party since the resignation of Thom de Graaf on 22 January 2003 did not stand for the leadership election. Alexander Pechtold the Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations beat the Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives Lousewies van der Laan and business consultant .
The lijsttrekker election has been advanced to an earlier date under pressure of the party's largest regional sections. Boris Dittrich, parliamentary leader of D66 until February 2006, stepped down. He came under heavy criticism after the political debate on sending Dutch troops to Uruzgan. He was criticized for making tactical errors to get political support for the mission, which D66 itself opposed. He was succeeded by Van der Laan. Advancing the date of the lijsttrekker election would allow D66 more time to find its ideological course before the next national election.
D66 has had leadership elections since the 1960s, traditionally there are few high-profile candidates who are joined by hopefuls, who are generally not perceived to stand a chance. In the media Van der Laan and Pechtold are described as real candidates while the other six are seen to stand no chance.
The other candidates are:
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