The Hague Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to tender his resignation today after the collapse of a parliamentary partnership with a far- right party fatally undermined his governing coalition.
The ANP news agency reporte
d that Rutte would submit his resignation in a meeting with Queen Beatrix at the palace scheduled for 2: 00pm ( 1200 GMT) following a crisis cabinet session in the morning.
The resignation has been widely expected since the weekend when Rutte acknowledged that a rift with anti- Islam politician Geert Wildersalt39 Freedom Party would likely lead to early elections, otherwise due in May 2015.
Although not part of the ruling coalition, Wildersalt39 party had effectively guaranteed the governments survival for the last 18 months by agreeing to support it in parliament.
That arrangement however came to a juddering halt at the weekend when talks about a new package of austerity measures foundered.
