Record number of no confidence votes against Rutte III cabinet

The Rutte III Cabinet broke a record, but not one worth celebrating. The now-caretaker Cabinet received the most ever motions of no confidence and censure from the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, the Telegraaf reported based on figures from the Parliamentary Documentation Center.

With 36 motions of no confidence and 15 of censure, Rutte III took the "distrust record" from its predecessor Rutte II. Most recently, Sigrid Kaag and Ank Bijleveld were both censured over chaotic evacuations from Afghanistan after the country fell to the Taliban, resulting in their resignations as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, respectively.

Political science professor, Bert van der Braak, thinks that the Kamer is too quick to reach for these heaviest political instruments. He worries that it will damage the Kamer's reputation. "The signal effect has completely disappeared," Van der Braak said to the Telegraaf.

Carla van Baalen, professor of parliamentary history, told the newspaper that the motions have become "more of a profiling tool for the opposition."