During this time, he dissuaded the PvdA leader at that time, Wim Kok, from engaging in debates with Socialist Party leader Jan Marijnissen.
Important partners within Keer het Tij are the three main left-wing political parties, PvdA, SP and GroenLinks), the largest trade union, the FNV, environmental organisations like Greenpeace and Milieu Defensie, and organisations of migrants.
Some of the party's founders had been active within other parties such as the social-democratic PvdA and the socialist SP, but they felt that the larger parties neglected the interests of the elderly.