Frits Korthals Altes

Frits Korthals Altes
Minister of Justice
In office 4 November 1982 – 7 November 1989
Preceded by	Job de Ruiter
Succeeded by	Ernst Hirsch Ballin
Personal details
Born	15 May 1931 (1931-05-15) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Religion	Arminianism

Frederik "Frits" Korthals Altes (born 1931) is a Dutch politician, who served as justice minister (1982–1989) during the first and second cabinets of prime minister Ruud Lubbers. He is an honorary member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

Korthals Altes studies law at Leiden University, obtaining a degree in 1957 and then becoming practitioner for several years. In 1975, he became a chairman of the VVD, and he was elected to the Dutch Senate in 1981. He became a justice minister in the first and second cabinets of prime minister Ruud Lubbers, and was temporarily Minister of the Interior after minister Koos Rietkerk died suddenly in office.

After the second Lubbers cabinet fell because of a parliamentary motion of no confidence by the VVD faction, new elections were called, and Korthals Altes was elected to the Dutch House of Representatives. In 1991, he was elected back again to the Dutch Senate, where he became a Chairman of the Senate in 1997. From 1990 to 1997, he was also practising law again, with the Dutch firm Nauta Dutilh.

With his resignation from the senate in 2001, he was nominated as Minister of State. Earlier in 1997, the VVD gave him an honorary membership. From 1997 until 2001, he was President of the Senate. The Dutch Queen nominated Korthals Altes, alongside Rein Jan Hoekstra (CDA), as informateur, after a first round of talks between the CDA and Labour Party (PvdA) to form a new cabinet failed. The second Balkenende cabinet between the VVD, CDA and D66, was installed in May 2003.

Korthals Altes chaired a commission in 2007 that looked into the Dutch election process. The final report of the commission advised the government to abandon electronic voting machines, as they lack a paper trail.

Preceded by Herman Tjeenk Willink

President of the Senate 1997-2001

Succeeded by Gerrit Braks