The Dutch coalition government has collapsed after only three months in office, brought down by internal feuding in the party of murdered populist Pim Fortuyn.

I have done everything I could to find a solution to this crisis but I did not succeed

Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende

Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende told parliament he would present his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix later on Wednesday.

He described conflicts within his three-party coalition as unacceptable, and said the issue was distracting the government from attending to important business.

The government was the shortest-lived Dutch administration since World War II. New elections are expected in January.

The late Fortuyn continues to exert influence from beyond the grave

The collapse of the government sparked speculation that European Union enlargement might be jeopardised, but Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, does not see this as a threat.

"I'm sure Holland will not take upon its shoulders the responsibility of stopping the enlargement of the European Union and the healing of the wounds from the Second World War," he said.

The Dutch coalition had been divided over a range of issues, including EU expansion, but it was a power struggle between two ministers from Pim Fortuyn's LPF party which brought the government down.

Mr Balkenende formed a coalition involving his own Christian Democrats, the LPF and the Liberal VVF party, after elections in May.

The LPF is brilliant at carrying wood to its own funeral pyre and sometimes even provides the matches

Mat Herben LPF leader

But the LPF, without its murdered charismatic leader, found itself beset by internal feuding on its future shape and direction.

Mr Fortuyn had been shot dead in May only nine days before the election, in which the LPF took second place to the Christian Democrats.

Personality clash

The LPF's Eduard Bomhoff and Herman Heinsbroek were granted senior cabinet seats, but became embroiled in a bitter personality battle.

Both finally resigned on Wednesday morning, but it was not enough to save the coalition.

"The LPF is brilliant at carrying wood to its own funeral pyre and sometimes even provides the matches," LPF leader Mat Herben told parliament.

Bomhoff was locked in a power struggle with a fellow minister

The leader of the third coalition member, the conservative Liberal VVD party, called for the entire government to resign and new elections to be held.

"We need new elections as soon as possible," said VVD leader Gerrit Zalm. "The situation has become unmanageable. The LPF never puts its chaos aside."

The VVD, along with coalition partner the Christian Democrats, said that even without the two feuding ministers it did not want to continue governing with the LPF.

Mr Heinsbroek told reporters that he found it impossible to continue working in the coalition government as a minister in the LPF.

He said the party was unworkable, being so young and containing new members with very different visions.

The LPF was formed around Pim Fortuyn and for Pim Fortuyn

Political analyst

The LPF won 26 seats in the 150-seat parliament on an anti-immigration platform last May.

The latest polls give them three to four seats.

"They have no organisation, no by-laws and no leader," political analyst Andre Krouwel told the French news agency AFP this week. "The LPF was formed around Pim Fortuyn and for Pim Fortuyn."