BRUSSELS, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The leader of the Liberal Democrat D66 party Boris Dittrich announced his resignation at a hastily arranged press conference on Friday afternoon.

    Dittrich admitted he had made tactical mistakes in the vote on the deployment of Dutch troops in Afghanistan and said this had to have consequences, reported by Dutch news agency ANP.

    "As political leader I have to be accountable and I expect that from others," he said.

    A large majority in parliament voted late on Thursday in favor of contributing up to 1,400 troops to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

    D66, the smallest of the three parties in the coalition government, voted against the mission. But Dittrich did not follow through on an earlier threat to pull his party out of government if it went ahead.

    It is reported that Lousewies van der Laan, one of the party's six MPs (Member of Parliaments), will be the new leader.

    Meanwhile, Dittrich will stay on as an MP. Enditem