The Netherlands’ ruling liberal conservatives of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte declared Friday they would be ready to govern alongside Geert Wilders’ far right movement after an early general election in November. Dutch voters will elect a new parliament on November 22 after last week’s collapse of Rutte’s four-party coalition led by his centre-right VVD over a bitter argument about asylum seeker policy. He said last month he would quit politics altogether after 13 years at the helm which made him his country’s longest-serving prime minister. Wilders dubbed the development “good news” in a post to X, formerly Twitter, as Dutch voters go to the polls some 15 months earlier than scheduled. Rutte’s government imploded after the policy highlighted what he conceded were “insurmountable” differences between coalition partners.

Source: The Guardian August 19, 2023 05:37 UTC