THE NETHERLANDS:Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende will tender his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix after a party quit the ruling coalition in a row over the immigration minister, Dutch media reported last night.
The smallest coalition member, D66, withdrew its support following dissatisfaction over immigration minister Rita Verdonk's tough stance on the citizenship of a Somali-born Dutch politician. Ms Verdonk came under pressure to resign after she had threatened to strip Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Dutch citizenship for lying about her name, age and refugee status on her arrival in the Netherlands in 1992.
D66, the smallest member of the centre-right government coalition, pulled the plug on the administration after the rejection of a bill of no confidence against Ms Verdonk earlier yesterday.
"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 told parliament.
The vote showed the depth of anger about the treatment of Ms Ali, a Somali-born politician who became The Netherlands' most high-profile opponent of radical Islamism. Ms Ali resigned from parliament and Ms Verdonk announced she was stripping her of Dutch citizenship.
As most of the political class in The Netherlands turned on the government, Ms Verdonk, a former deputy prison governor known as Iron Rita, had to perform a U-turn and restore Ms Ali's citizenship.