Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, has announced he is quitting politics, bringing an end to his 13-year premiership.
He said he would leave politics after the general election, which is expected in November and has been triggered by his government’s resignation on Friday amid a row over immigration, and not seek a fifth term in office.
Rutte, the leader of the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, announced his decision at a hastily arranged parliamentary debate.
He said: “Yesterday morning I made a decision that I will not be available again as a leader of the VVD. When a new cabinet takes office after the elections, I will leave politics.” Rutte added that it was a “personal decision,
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