Coalition Collapses Over Lawmaker’s Case
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said his government would resign after his coalition split over the citizenship case of a Somali-born lawmaker.
The immigration minister threatened last month to revoke the passport of Ayaan Hirsi Ali after the legislator admitted falsifying her name to escape an arranged marriage when she applied for asylum in 1992.
Hirsi Ali, 36, resigned her seat. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk later reversed her ruling, saying that under Somalian law, the lawmaker’s name was legal because it was her grandfather’s surname. The coalition split over Verdonk’s handling of the case.
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