NEE

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NEE
Leader	Jan De Bruyn
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Eggestraat 39 2060 Antwerpen
Ideology	political satire, political protest, populism
Website www.nee-antwerpen.be

NEE (Dutch for no) is a political protest group, trying to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium.

The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp. The idea of the protest party grew in a group of young people, who felt that their local community lost confidence in the Belgian politicians and their intentions. NEE first participated in the municipal elections of 2006 and ran for a second time in the 2007 Belgian general election.

The members of the NEE group went in a non-political direction after the 2007 elections, working on a movie project,^[1] and a fictional suicide blog,^[2] among other activities. It's unclear if returning to political activity is planned.

Contents 1 Mission 2 Platform 3 Election controversy 4 Election results 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Mission

NEE wants to offer people who disagree with the views and past realizations of all present political parties the option to give a signal to the politicians by voting NEE, and thus take away votes of real political parties. In the Belgian system of compulsory voting, not voting for anyone doesn't have that effect, because election results don't mention blank votes. Blank votes are eventually distributed among the existing parties. Quoting NEE's original manifesto (translated from the Dutch text):

"If you vote for us, (...) you are clearly raising your middle finger to all political parties who, according to you, cheat their voters. (...) There is a chronic shortage of competent people who have the goodwill to use their expertise for the common good. Politicians would rather use their expertise for personal benefit. Every vote for NEE is a powerful signal to those politicians, a signal that says: we will not put up with your anti-social and egoistical leadership anymore."^[3]

It must be noted that NEE doesn't campaign to encourage such electoral behavior. The party campaigns to mock the electoral promises of the mainstream political parties and criticize when they feel politicians are playing tricks or behave unfitting for their position. But at the same time they regularly state on propaganda flyers and media: please do not vote for us, if you're happy with the politics nowadays, or with a certain party.^[4] Many people voting NEE, would mean Belgian democracy is in a bad state at the moment, and NEE would rather see a healthy democracy. Although NEE aims to channel the negative feelings of the citizens, for them, that doesn't mean they can't be a constructive movement. They hope their message will bring self-reflection and a new positive energy that encourages honesty and real motivation in the political landscape, rather than putting all energy in the elections as a popularity contest.

NEE doesn't have a party ideology in the classical sense, where opinions about important social, economical, ethical, ecological and policy topics are stated. That's why they want to call themself a 'protest movement' promoting a higher level of democracy and free speech, rather than a 'party'.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Platform

Originally the party stated that elected NEE members would occupy their seat and vote against every proposition made.^[3] This strategy was changed later on, now claiming that elected members would not fill an active role, instead leaving seats empty as a 'none of the above' option to allow dissatisfied voters a chance to sanction the other parties,^[5] which - in Belgium - are financially rewarded for every seat they obtain in parliament. Empty seats would also be a more realistic representation of the voter's opinion, considering that the voter didn't want to support any actual politician.

The party organises its campaigns mainly through the internet. Besides an internet campaign, small scaled, sometimes satirical actions are organised in NEE's hometown, Antwerp.

[edit] Election controversy

NEE attracted international attention when its lead candidate for the Senate in the 2007 Belgian general election, Tania Derveaux, posed naked in an ad that promised to create 400,000 jobs . The ad was intended as a parodic attack on other parties that made claims about job creation that NEE considered ridiculous. According to the NEE website, she received back requests not for jobs, but for blowjobs. In return, NEE posted a form on its website offering the opportunity to subscribe for one of the 40,000 blowjobs Tania will offer.^[6]

Eventually the promised blowjobs were given out virtually, by posting a video clip on Youtube. An actress, Lin Chong, entitled as Tania's blowjob assistant, made gestures in the video as if she was preforming oral sex on the viewer.^[7]

[edit] Election results

In the municipal elections of 2006, the party received 1.51% of the votes for the Antwerp city council, but no candidate was elected.^[8]

In the general elections of 2007, NEE scored 0.18% for the Senate, which was not enough to obtain a seat.^[9]

[edit] See also

• Belgian Federal Parliament
• Politics of Belgium
• Political parties in Belgium

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NEE party website (English version)
• movieLOL film production website

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