Polls open this morning in the Netherlands as the Dutch vote for a new parliament.

Two months before Dutch elections, the conservative government suffered a setback today with the resignation of two ministers who accepted blame for safety faults in an airport jail that led to the deaths of 11 prisoners.

The Dutch government quit today amid infighting over a failed attempt to strip a prominent Somali-born critic of Islam of her Dutch citizenship – setting the stage for elections likely to be dominated by immigration issues.

Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende tendered his Cabinet’s resignation to Queen Beatrix today, a move that will ultimately lead to new elections.

As Dutch leaders made an 11th-hour plea for a “Yes” vote on the European Union constitution, polls suggested a disillusioned public will reject the charter in a referendum tomorrow by an even larger margin than the stunning “No” delivered by France.

DUTCH politicians yesterday began what could be months of bargaining to form a coalition after elections that put centrist parties back in control and relegated an anti-immigration party to the far-right fringe.

Dutch voters appeared evenly split between the country’s two major parties as they voted today, raising the prospect that the next government may be a “grand coalition” of the rival camps.

The Netherlands’ Labour Party appeared poised to return as the country’s biggest party today as Dutch voters cast their ballots.

THE Netherlands is set for a cliff-hanging general election today. A year ago, a dapper gay populist who railed against immigrants in general and Muslims in particular and then was shot to death in a car-park nine days before elections.