Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced Monday that he will quit politics after early parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall, a decision that ends the career of the country’s longest-serving leader in history.

Mr Rutte, who has led four coalition governments since 2010, announced on Friday the collapse of his four-party coalition following internal disputes over tightening Dutch asylum policies.

I will leave politics on the occasion of the inauguration of a new government after the electionshe declared in parliament.

He also made it clear that he will not be at the top of his right-wing liberal party’s list (VVD).

Mr Rutte said he would remain in office temporarily until the elections, which the Dutch electoral commission said would not take place until mid-November.

There has been a lot of speculation over the last few days about what motivates me. My only answer is the Netherlands.

The opposition wants the Prime Minister to resign immediately

Mr Rutte faces a vote in Parliament later today in which the opposition seeks to oust him as caretaker prime minister.

Two left-wing opposition parties and the right-wing extremist party Geert Wilders had filed a motion of no confidence against him.

To succeed, the motion must be supported by at least one of the four parties in Rutte’s coalition, which failed on Friday, Dutch media said.

However, following Mr Rutte’s announcement, the two left-wing opposition parties that had tabled the motion said they no longer supported it.

The chairman of the Green Party GreenLinksJesse Klaver, one of those who tried to topple the interim government, said Mr Rutte had allowed the government to fall apart according to political interest. Ultimately, he agreed that he would remain in power as acting prime minister until a new government was installed.

Rutte himself has indicated that he prefers the national interest over the party interest. This gives us new confidence in his ability to lead the country as outgoing Prime Minister.

For his part, Mr. Wilders, known for his inflammatory rhetoric on immigration, said that a The outgoing prime minister could also be forced to leave the country. We’ll try that.

Fierce debates about immigration

After just a year and a half in power, the ruling coalition in the Netherlands under Prime Minister Mark Rutte collapsed on Friday over immigration issues, leading to early elections with an uncertain outcome for the country and Europe.

ChristenUniea small Protestant formation, and D66a liberal centrist party, had spoken out strongly against Mr Rutte’s project.

The Dutch media claimed that the prime minister had issued an ultimatum to other parties to show determination on immigration policy, while leaders of his own right-wing liberal party had issued an ultimatum VVD pushed him in that direction.

Rutte said his party’s annual congress in June was the scene of tensions over the issue of immigration.

An election campaign is about to begin in the Netherlands, one of the most heated and controversial in several years.

A new pro-farmer formation, the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging), opponent of the European Union’s environmental regulations, won the most seats in regional elections in March, which also determine the composition of the Senate.

Its leader, Caroline van der Plas, says she rejects her party being part of a coalition in which Mr Rutte would play a role and has not ruled out seeking the prime ministership.