Dutch government collapses over minister row

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

AMSTERDAM - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced the resignation of his centre-right government today after a row over the immigration minister prompted a party to quit the ruling coalition.

The smallest government member, D66, had withdrawn its support and its two ministers resigned over Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk's handling of a probe into the citizenship of a Somali-born Dutch politician.

"Following this, the remaining ministers and junior ministers decided to tender their positions to the head of state, the queen. This also counts for me," Balkenende said on television.

His government, the third since 2002, is deeply unpopular as public disquiet has risen about immigration and security compounded by budget cuts and an unpopular new health insurance scheme, but the economy is now recovering and unemployment is falling.

Elections, initially scheduled for May 2007, could take place in September at the earliest. D66, performing poorly in polls whereas its larger coalition partners are climbing higher, has long been seeking to boost its profile.

Verdonk, nicknamed "Iron Rita" for her forthright views and tough policies on immigration issues, came under pressure to resign after she had threatened to strip Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Dutch citizenship for lying about her name, age and refugee status on arrival in the Netherlands in 1992.

Hirsi Ali has been living under tight security after an Islamist militant killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who directed a film for which she wrote the script that accused Islam of suppressing women.

The murder of the outspoken filmmaker in 2004 stoked hostility towards Muslim immigrants.

"This crisis is still about the legacy of Pim Fortuyn and a restructuring of political leadership to the right of the centre," said Philip van Praag, associate professor of political science at Amsterdam University.

Populist politician Pim Fortuyn tapped into simmering anti-establishment sentiment before an animal rights activist killed him in 2002.

"Part of the electorate still sees Verdonk as a direct heiress of Pim Fortuyn and she is attracting voters," said Van Praag who estimated she accounted for one third of VVD seats.

A poll on Sunday showed the Christian Democrats would lose a fifth of its seats, a smaller loss than in earlier polls, and the D66 half its seats, while the VVD Liberals' fortunes were looking up.

The opposition Labour party would become the largest party with 44 seats and the Socialists would win nine seats.

D66 pulled the plug on its support for the government after the rejection of a bill of no confidence against Verdonk earlier today, the last day before parliament's summer recess.

Without the D66, the VVD Liberals and the Christian Democrats no longer had a majority in parliament.

"A rift was created with my party and I feel there is no other way but to withdraw support for this government," D66 party leader Lousewies van der Laan said.

Hirsi Ali had resigned from parliament last month and said she would leave the country after Verdonk threatened to strip her of citizenship.

Verdonk reversed her decision after Hirsi Ali submitted a statement saying she had not intended to lie to authorities and that her chosen name, Hirsi Ali, was valid because it was taken from her grandfather according to Somali customs.

Her given name before arriving in the Netherlands was Ayaan Hirsi Magan. Hirsi Ali, who needs a passport to get a visa to work at a conservative think tank in the United States, afterwards said she had signed the statement under pressure in order to keep her Dutch passport.

- REUTERS