Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Monday that he won’t run for a fifth term in office after handing in the resignation of his cabinet Friday, bringing an end to the country’s fragile four-party coalition government.
Rutte, who became the country’s longest-serving prime minister in history in August last year, said he plans to leave Dutch politics following elections later in the year.
The leader of the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) had served as prime minister since 2010.
“In recent days there’s been a lot of speculation about what motivated me. The only answer is the Netherlands,” Rutte said in a speech in parliament, according to Reuters.
“Yesterday morning I made the decision that I will not again be available as leader of the VVD. Once the new cabinet is formed after the elections, I will leave politics.”
His comments came ahead of a scheduled no-confidence vote in The Hague on Monday.
This is a developing news story and will be updated shortly.
Read the full article here