The Dutch GreenLeft-Labor alliance has elected Jesse Klaver as its new leader to succeed Frans Timmermans after slumping to defeat in last week’s election.

Timmermans resigned on election night immediately after exit polls put his party in fourth place with a loss of five seats — a major setback for a party that had been an election favorite ahead of the vote.

“Sometimes, leadership means taking a step back,” Klaver, in a nod to his predecessor’s decision, said following his appointment Monday.

“But sometimes you also have to take a step forward when the situation calls for it. That’s what I did today,” Klaver added, according to a local media report.

Timmermans, a former European commissioner, quit Brussels politics in 2023 to return to the Dutch political scene and take the reins of the newly formed alliance between the GreenLeft and Labor parties.

Klaver, who is 39, previously led the GreenLeft party and was Timmermans’ second-in-command over the past two years. 

The centrist liberal D66 party is in pole position to form a new Dutch coalition after its narrow victory in the election.

One possible coalition would include GreenLeft-Labor, as well as the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal and the conservative liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

That’s far from a done deal, however, as VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz had repeatedly ruled out governing with GreenLeft-Labor.