Background
He is the son of Bernard van Haersma Buma (born 1932) who was the mayor of Workum (1962–1970) and of Sneek (1970–1993). Both his father and grandfather belonged to the Christian Historical Union (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire), that merged in 1980 with the Catholic People"s Party (Katholieke Volks Partij (Catholic People's Party)) and the Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP) to form the Christian Democratic Appeal ( Capital Development Authority).
Education
Van Haersma Buma studied law at the University of Groningen (1983–1989) and followed a course at the University of Cambridge (1989–1990).
Career
Van Haersma Buma has been the Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal since 30 June 2012. Sybrand van Haersma Buma descends from an old patrician family from Friesland. After his study he was employed at the Council of State and the Ministry of the Interior.
From 2007 to 2010 he was the secretary of the Christian Democratic Appeal parliamentary group in the House of Representatives.
Although the Christian Democratic Appeal lost the elections of June 2010, Van Haersma Buma was re-elected. He supported his party chief, Maxime Verhagen, during the negotiations between the Christian Democratic Appeal and the conservative liberal People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy)) of Mark Rutte and the populist Party for Freedom (Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang (Party for Reform and Freedom)) of Geert Wilders which eventually resulted in a minority government of the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) and Christian Democratic Appeal with parliamentary support of the Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang (Party for Reform and Freedom). After Parliamentary leader Verhagen became deputy Prime Minister in the new government Van Haersma Buma was elected as his successor.
After the fall of the cabinet, Van Haersma Buma criticised the Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang (Party for Reform and Freedom), the party responsible for the breakup of the cabinet. Shortly afterwards he announced his candidacy for the party"s leadership.
On 18 May 2012 he was elected as lijsttrekker (leader) of the Christian Democratic Appeal by a majority of the Christian Democratic Appeal members.
In the meantime he and the leaders of the People"s Party for Freedom and Democracy, ChristianUnion, Democrats 66 and GroenLinks, the so-called "Spring Agreement" (a budgetary agreement) for 2013.
Politics
Politics
He became the party"s spokesman on judicial affairs and is known for his law and order approach.
Membership
He is the Parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives since 14 October 2010 and has been a Member of the House of Representatives since 23 May 2002. Van Haersma Buma was the secretary of the Christian Democratic Appeal in The Hague and a member of the executive committee of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the Province of South Holland in the late 1990s. From January to June 2002 he was a member of the municipal council of Voorburg (South Holland) and since May 2002 he is a member of the Dutch House of Representatives.