Dutch justice minister resigns weeks before elections.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch security and justice minister resigned Thursday amid allegations that he was involved in withholding information from lawmakers, a potentially damaging blow to the administration of Prime Minister Mark Rutte less than two months before a national election.
Security and Justice Minister Ard van der Steur quit days after a new book presented evidence of his involvement in drafting responses to Parliament’s questions about a deal prosecutors made with a drug trafficker in 2000.
Opposition lawmakers used a debate on the still-disputed deal in the lower house of Parliament Thursday to attack the credibility not only of Van der Steur, but also of his political boss, Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom is riding high in polls ahead of the March 15 election, called Rutte “by a long way, the most untrustworthy premier the Netherlands has had in a long time.”