The Dutch cabinet resigned in disgrace earlier this year after admitting it falsely accused thousands of citizens of cheating the benefits system. Then a strict second lockdown sparked riots. Now Dutch voters go to the polls, but are they in the mood for a change of government?
Voting begins today in a Dutch general election that follows a major government scandal and strict lockdown conditions that sparked serious disorder.
The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, tells Anushka Asthana that the prime minister, Mark Rutte’s government resigned en masse in January after admitting to failing tens of thousands of citizens who it had wrongly accused of cheating the child benefits system. A parliamentary report described how people from ethnic minorities were particularly singled out and issued with demands to repay tens of thousands of euros.
