Sebastiaan Stöteler

T.S.M. "Sebastiaan" Stöteler (born 18 November 1983) is a Dutch politician of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV). Born and raised in Almelo, he worked as a judicial officer and served on its municipal council starting in 2018. He became a member of the Provincial Council of Overijssel in 2022. Stöteler was the PVV's lead candidate in the June 2024 European Parliament election.

Life
Stöteler was born in Almelo, Overijssel in 1983, and he grew up there. He had several jobs after graduating high school with a havo diploma, and he later studied law at the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. He worked as a judicial officer for a debt collection agency starting in the mid-2010s. Stöteler entered the Almelo Municipal Council in 2018, where he has served on its presidium and as the PVV's parliamentary leader. Comparing him to other municipal councilors of the PVV, de Volkskrant described Stöteler as a moderate who occasionally cooperated with the governing coalition. He was the party's 25th candidate in the March 2021 general election, when the PVV won 17 seats. Stöteler became a member of the Provincial Council of Overijssel the following year next to this job and his position on the municipal council.

He was selected as the PVV's lead candidate in the June 2024 European Parliament election. Newspaper NRC called Stöteler invisible during the campaign, as he shied away from public appearances apart from attending two debates. He announced that the PVV intended to leave the Identity and Democracy Party in favor of a new party to be established by French politician Marine Le Pen. Furthermore, the PVV did not campaign for immediate Dutch withdrawal from the European Union (EU) during the election, opting instead for weakening the EU from within.