D66’s historic 2025 comeback surprised many observers, showing how a party can reinvent itself even in a highly polarised and digitally fragmented landscape. In this Deep Dive, Afke Groen of the Mr. Hans van Mierlo Stichting will unpack how D66 achieved this feat by starting where few parties dare to begin: with a clear-eyed, courageous internal review of what had gone wrong.

Building on a renewal methodology first forged in the 2006 crisis, D66 again combined ideological recalibration, internal talent activation, narrative redesign, and organisational rebuilding—but adapted each element to the new political reality.

We'll explore what stayed constant in D66’s strategic DNA, what changed the second time around—from deeper data insights into voter anxieties to a campaign model that blended digital creativity with disciplined field work—and what any political actor can learn from a party capable of reinventing itself twice without losing its identity. 


Moderation:

• Josef Lentsch (Partisan)

Speaker(s):

• Afke Groen (Director of the Mr Hans van Mierlo Stichting (D66)