Livable Rotterdam was founded by teacher, union spokesman and former Labour Party member Ronald Sørensen and his wife.

The party attracts attention and criticism for the upfront behavior of its members and its unconventional, if sometimes right-leaning vision, especially on issues of immigration, crime and inter-culture tolerance.

Ronald Buijt wrote that he had 50 reliable citizens of the city who could take the proxy votes to the polling stations.

This irregularity was added to a litany of complaints against the poll in Rotterdam in these elections (many of which were caused by the PvdA), which resulted in a recount of all the votes cast.

Back then the PvdA only beat Livable Rotterdam by a mere 650 votes, yet both parties had 14 seats in the city council.

[11][12] Although not an officially associated party, some elected representatives of Livable Rotterdam such as Barry Madlener, Ingrid Coenradie and Ehsan Jami are members of Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) which campaigns on similar issues at a national level.