DUTCH PRIME MINISTER FIGHTS NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE FOR ‘LYING’

A debate that could seal the political fate of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was set to go on well past midnight on Friday, after politicians from all sides of parliament accused him of lying over remarks made during talks to form a Cabinet.

Rutte faced the biggest challenge to his leadership in a decade as the opposition presented a no-confidence motion, with a vote to directly follow the debate. Rutte was the clear winner of last month’s parliamentary elections, seen as a referendum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Bart H. Meijer, Anthony Deutsch and Toby Sterling reported for Reuters.

Losing a vote of confidence would force him to tender his resignation to King Willem-Alexander. It would also throw negotiations on forming a new coalition into disarray and seriously hurt Rutte’s chances of forming his fourth consecutive government and becoming the Netherlands’ longest-serving Prime Minister.

More than 10 hours after the debate started, it remained unclear whether Rutte would get needed support from centrist parties in his previous coalition.

The crisis arose on Thursday after documents showed that in government formation talks, Rutte had discussed a possible new job for a prominent member of parliament who had been critical of his previous Cabinet. Rutte had previously said he did not do so.

“The only thing I can do here is say from the bottom of my heart, my toes, say what happened, what went well, what went wrong, that I never lied,” Rutte said in parliament. Rutte, 54, a conservative who has been in office for more than 10 years, pointed to his record and said he hoped to continue leading the country.

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