Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende is set to hand in his government's resignation today after the ruling coalition fell apart over the handling of the citizenship of a Somali-born Dutch legislator.
The trigger for the government collapse was Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk's threat to revoke the Dutch citizenship of Ayaan Hirsi Ali after the popular politician admitted to lying about her name, age and refugee status on her arrival in The Netherlands in 1992.
Ms Verdonk withdrew the threat after Hirsi Ali submitted a statement saying she had not intended to lie to authorities and that her chosen name, Hirsi Ali, was valid because it was taken from her grandfather according to Somali customs.
But D66, the coalition's smallest party, withdrew from the ruling coalition at the end of a two-day debate saying Ms Verdonk's policies and actions went beyond the limits of public credibility.
Hirsi Ali has been living under tight security after an Islamist militant killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who directed her film accusing Islam of suppressing women.
The murder of the outspoken filmmaker in 2004 stoked hostility towards Muslim immigrants and heightened the public's concerns over immigration. Those concerns helped Mr Balkenende's centre-right government take power through a fragile coalition, in 2003.
The coalition's collapse is the third demise of a government since 2002. New elections are expected as early as September or October, well before their scheduled date of May 2007.