Incidents and Scandals
The first Balkenende cabinet was very unstable from the beginning. Elections had been held in the very recent aftermath of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the newly established LPF. Emotions in the Netherlands, a country where the last political assassination had taken place in 1584 with the murder of Prince William of Orange, had run very high. The LPF was catapulted into enormous wins, but was unprepared for cabinet participation.
Only three of the 27 cabinet members had previous experience in government, leading to speculation that it wouldn't last long. As it turned out, personality conflicts and the general inexperience of LPF cabinet members led to the rapid implosion of the cabinet after a little more than two months.
Read more about this topic: First Balkenende Cabinet
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