Education
University of Amsterdam.
University of Amsterdam.
After the Dutch general election of 1994 he became Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the Cabinet Kok I. After the Dutch general election of 1998 incumbent Party leader of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy Frits Bolkestein announced his retirement and Dijkstal was elected his successor. He returned to the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 and became the Parliamentary leader of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives and the Party leaders of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy on 30 July 1998. Foreign the Dutch general election of 2002 he was the lijsttrekker (top candidate), Dijkstal and Ad Melkert the Party leader of the Labour Party were the front runners to become the next Prime Minister, but the unexpected arrival of Pim Fortuyn of Livable Netherlands (LN) and later the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF), turned the polls.
Fortuyn blamed the problems in the country on the Purple cabinets (in which both Dijkstal and Melkert served as ministers).
Fortuyn depicted Dijkstal and Melkert as two bureaucrats who didn"t understand the feelings and problems among the population. After a heated campaign a mere days before the election, Fortuyn was assassinated in Hilversum.
The People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy suffered a big defeat in the election losing fourteen seats, Dijkstal accepted responsibility for the defeat and sequentially left national politics. He resigned as Leader of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy and Parliamentary leader of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives on 16 May 2002 and gave up his seat in the House of Representatives on 1 September 2002.
He was able to speak fluent Arabic before moving to the Netherlands at age five.
He made a career as financial advisor, taught management courses, and was council member for the city of Wassenaar and an alderman. In 1982 he was first elected to the House of Representatives. He took over the leadership of the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) faction from Frits Bolkestein in 1998.
Family
Personal
Furthermore he was a fan and admirer of Star Trek.
Hans Dijkstal died on 9 May 2010 after a long fight against bone cancer, he was 67.
Politics
Dijkstal was the lijsttrekker for the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) party in the 2002 parliamentary elections, that turned out disastrous for the party. Afterwards, he retired from active politics. But when his former party started taking a heavy stance on "allochtonen" (immigrants and their children) he teamed up with former politicians from a wide range of other parties in protest, to strive for a more tolerant society, under the name "Een Land Een Samenleving" ("One Country One Society").
Dijkstal a financial adviser by occupation, was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 11 November 1982 after the Dutch general election of 1982, serving until 3 June 1986 and from 30 July 1986 until 22 August 1994.
