Dutch Gov't Resigns Over Hirsi Row

Dutch PM Balkenende leaves Palace Huis ten Bosch after tendering his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix.

Balkenende's government fell Thursday, June 29, after the junior coalition partner D66 withdrew its support following a row about Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk's handling of the controversy surrounding the citizenship of Somali-born Islam critic and former law maker Ayaan Hirsi Ali, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

After initially revoking Hirsi Ali's citizenship over lying about her name and refuge status on arrival in 1992.

Verdonk later did an about-face and, on a technicality, said she could remain a Dutch citizen.

But some six weeks of heated debate over the immigration minister's stance had done its damage.

The D66, which has just three of a total of 25 ministers, threatened to bring down the government unless the immigration minister resigns.

Hirsi has gained notoriety in the Muslim world for her two-part documentary "Submission," which was dubbed by the Muslim minority in the Netherlands as "extremely insulting."

The documentaries are about what the MP claims Islam's oppression of women and stance on homosexuality.

The documentaries infuriated the one million Muslims in the European country and led to the November 2004 killing of its director Theo Van Gogh by a Dutch man of Moroccan origin.

The killing, however, was strongly condemned by the vast majority of the minority.

New Elections

The Queen will now consult all the leaders of the political parties in parliament to determine whether new elections should be called immediately or if the Balkenende's Christian Democrats can form a temporary minority government with its remaining coalition partner the liberal VVD.

The government collapse, the third since 2002, is likely to lead to new elections in September or early October, well before their scheduled date of May 2007, Reuters reported.

The coming elections are expected to see the Dutch voters swing to the left.

A recent poll conducted before the latest controversy over Hirsi's citizenship showed that the opposition Labour party would be the winner of the elections if they were held now.

The polls showed that Labour is set to grab 44 of the 150 parliamentary seats in the coming elections.

This would be well ahead of either party in Balkenende's remaining coalition, the VVD and CDA, which would win up to 33 seats and 38 seats respectively.

The opinion polls show that the D66 party will be reduced to three seats from six.