The Dutch Muslim Party (NMP) has folded because "the time is not ripe for a Muslim party in parliament."

Board members Henny Kreeft (pictured) and Jacques Visker have resigned, and dissolved the party.

The two men have decided that the Netherlands is not ready for a Muslim political party in parliament. Kreeft and Visker say the Dutch Muslim community is too politically divided.

The NMP was founded in 2007 by the two Dutch converts to Islam, but has not had any electoral success. In local elections in 2010, the NMP did not garner any municipal seats. In Rotterdam, for example, it took just 0.5% of the vote.

The party had planned to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections, but was unable to pull together an organisation to do so.

The NMP’s stated purpose was to decrease the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims and to improve Islam's image in the Netherlands. Remarkably, co-founder Henny Kreeft was a supporter of Islam-critic and politician Pim Fortuyn, who was mudered in 2002. Kreeft converted to the Islamic faith in the 1990's.

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