1998 Dutch general election

1998 Dutch general election

← 1994 6 May 1998 2002 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.35% ( 5.40pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– PvdA Wim Kok 28.98 45 +8 VVD Frits Bolkestein 24.69 38 +7 CDA Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 18.37 29 −5 D66 Els Borst 8.99 14 −10 GL Paul Rosenmöller 7.27 11 +6 SP Jan Marijnissen 3.53 5 +3 RPF Leen van Dijke 2.03 3 0 SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.78 3 +1 GPV Gert Schutte 1.26 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Most voted-for party by municipality Cabinet before Cabinet after First Kok cabinet PvdA–VVD–D66 Second Kok cabinet PvdA–VVD–D66

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998.^[1] The elections saw the purple coalition of social democrats and liberals (left and right) strengthen its majority. Both the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) won considerably, much at the cost of their junior coalition partner, the social liberal Democrats 66 (D66).

Political observers attributed the win to the economic performance of the coalition, including the reduction of unemployment and the budget deficit, steady growth and job creation, combined with wage freezes and trimming of the welfare state, together with a policy of fiscal restraint.^[2]

The two small left opposition parties, the green GroenLinks, and the Socialist Party, were rewarded for their 'quality opposition'. The major opposition party, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), after being in opposition for the first time in its history, also lost seats, and also failed to secure the most votes in the country's southernmost provinces North Brabant and Limburg for the first time ever. The two parties for the elderly AOV and Union 55+ and the right-wing populist CD did not return to parliament.

The formation resulted in the continuation of the Kok cabinet with the second Kok cabinet, consisting of the PvdA, VVD and D66, even though the latter was not necessary for a majority of 76 seats.

• Aarts, Kees; Semetko, Holli A. (1999). "Representation and responsibility: the 1998 Dutch election in perspective". Acta Politica. 34 (2). Palgrave Macmillan: 111–129.
• Irwin, Galen A. (1999). "The Dutch parliamentary election of 1998". Electoral Studies. 18 (2): 271–276. doi:10.1016/S0261-3794(98)00048-1.
• Irwin, Galen A.; van Holsteyn, Joop J.M. (1999). "Parties and politicians in the parliamentary election of 1998". Acta Politica. 34 (2). Palgrave Macmillan: 130–157.