Van Raaij became involved in the
Christian Historical Union and was appointed as its national secretary. In 1980, he was a founding member of the
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). In 1979, he was elected as an MEP to the
European Parliament for the CDA but became an independent in 1996 due to alleged financial misdeeds. He joined the
Union for Europe group as an independent MEP and supported a number of
eurosceptic proposals including voting against the introduction of the
Euro currency. At the same time he also joined the
Union 55+ party but continued to serve as an independent in the European parliament until his term ended. In 1999 he took part in the European Parliament elections with his own party, the
European Electors Platform Netherlands (EVPN) but narrowly failed to win a seat. In 2002, he joined the newly created
Pim Fortuyn List and was third on the candidate list for the 2002 general election. He was elected to the
House of Representatives on 15 May 2002. Van Raaij had more professional political experience than other LPF members and was vice-chairman of the standing committee for Foreign Affairs. Following Fortuyn's assassination, he attended the trial of
Volkert van der Graaf to give a witness statement. He ran for president of the House of Representatives, but lost to
Frans Weisglas. He would retire from politics at the 2003 election due to disputes with new LPF leader
Mat Herben. == References ==