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All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 73.35% ( 5.40pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998. [1]
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All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 73.35% ( 5.40pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998. [1]
During the 1998 election the purple coalition of social democrats and liberals (left and right) fortified its majority. Both the social democratic PvdA and the conservative liberal VVD won considerably, much at the cost of their junior partner in cabinet, the social liberal 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, 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 Unie 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, & D66, even though the latter was not necessary for a majority of 76 seats.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Labour Party | 2,494,555 | 28.98 | 45 | +8 | |
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 2,124,971 | 24.69 | 38 | +7 | |
| Christian Democratic Appeal | 1,581,053 | 18.37 | 29 | –5 | |
| Democrats 66 | 773,497 | 8.99 | 14 | –10 | |
| GroenLinks | 625,968 | 7.27 | 11 | +6 | |
| Socialist Party | 303,703 | 3.53 | 5 | +3 | |
| Reformatory Political Federation | 174,593 | 2.03 | 3 | 0 | |
| Reformed Political Party | 153,583 | 1.78 | 3 | +1 | |
| Reformed Political League | 108,724 | 1.26 | 2 | 0 | |
| Centre Democrats | 52,226 | 0.61 | 0 | –3 | |
| General Elderly Alliance–Union 55+ | 45,994 | 0.53 | 0 | –7 | |
| Mobile Netherlands | 45,219 | 0.53 | 0 | New | |
| Seniors 2000 | 36,157 | 0.42 | 0 | New | |
| New Middle Party | 23,512 | 0.27 | 0 | New | |
| The Greens | 16,585 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | |
| Natural Law Party | 15,746 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 | |
| Catholic Political Party | 8,233 | 0.10 | 0 | New | |
| Free Indian Party | 7,225 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |
| New Solidarity Elderly Union | 6,455 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |
| New Communist Party of the Netherlands | 5,620 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | |
| Idealists/Jij | 2,500 | 0.03 | 0 | New | |
| The Voters Collective | 1,668 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 8,607,787 | 100.00 | 150 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 8,607,787 | 99.83 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 14,435 | 0.17 | |||
| Total votes | 8,622,222 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 11,755,132 | 73.35 | |||
| Source: Kiesraad | |||||
| Province | PvdA | VVD | CDA | D66 | GL | SP | RPF | SGP | GPV | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drenthe | 37.3 | 21.6 | 17.9 | 8.1 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
 Flevoland | 25.8 | 29.1 | 14.8 | 9.0 | 6.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 4.2 |
 Friesland | 33.6 | 16.4 | 26.4 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
 Gelderland | 29.0 | 23.0 | 20.4 | 8.1 | 6.7 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 2.4 |
 Groningen | 37.1 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 8.6 | 8.1 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 4.5 | 2.9 |
 Limburg | 29.9 | 21.3 | 24.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 5.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 4.2 |
 North Brabant | 28.9 | 24.5 | 21.5 | 8.4 | 6.7 | 5.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 3.4 |
 North Holland | 28.4 | 29.2 | 12.5 | 11.5 | 9.7 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
 Overijssel | 29.0 | 18.7 | 26.7 | 6.6 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 2.4 |
 South Holland | 27.7 | 28.0 | 14.6 | 9.4 | 6.7 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 3.4 |
 Utrecht | 23.6 | 27.7 | 16.0 | 11.4 | 8.6 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 2.7 |
 Zeeland | 27.8 | 23.3 | 17.2 | 6.9 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 8.3 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right, which promotes private enterprise and economic liberalism.
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands.
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands can be described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by a common striving for broad consensus on important issues, within both of the political community and society as a whole.
The Christian Union is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more socially conservative positions on issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The party describes itself as "social Christian".
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic and socially conservative political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union; it has participated in all but three cabinets since it became a unitary party.
The second Kok cabinet, also called the second Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous first Kok cabinet and was formed by the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the social-liberal Democrats 66 after the election of 1998. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Labour Leader Wim Kok serving as Prime Minister. Prominent Liberal politician Annemarie Jorritsma the Minister of Transport and Water Management in the previous cabinet served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, former Progressive-Liberal Leader Els Borst continued as Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and served as Deputy Prime Minister.
Democrats 66 is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The second Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 27 May 2003 until 7 July 2006. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) after the election of 2003. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm, a former Minister of Finance, served as Deputy Prime Minister and returned as Minister of Finance, while former Progressive-Liberal Leader Thom de Graaf served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for the Interior.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002. The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history, not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination of leader Pim Fortuyn only nine days before election day.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 January 2003.
Liberalism in the Netherlands started as an anti-monarchical effort spearheaded by the Dutch statesman Thorbecke, who almost single-handedly wrote the 1848 Constitution of the Netherlands that turned the country into a constitutional monarchy.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006, following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The election proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.
The first Kok cabinet, also called the first Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 22 August 1994 until 3 August 1998. The cabinet was formed by the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 after the election of 1994. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Labour Leader Wim Kok serving as Prime Minister. Prominent Liberal politician Hans Dijkstal served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, while Progressive-Liberal Leader Hans van Mierlo served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Following the 2006 Dutch general election, held on November 22, a process of cabinet formation started, involving negotiations about which coalition partners to form a common programme of policy and to divide the posts in cabinet. On February 22, 2007 it resulted in the formation of the Fourth Balkenende cabinet.
Purple is a common term in politics used to describe governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours. It is of particular note in three countries. In the politics of the Netherlands and Belgium, purple is the term for a government coalition of social democrats and liberals, excluding christian democrats. It is derived from the combination of the colour of the social democrats (red) and liberals (blue).
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives were contested using party-list proportional representation. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) received a plurality of the votes, followed by the Labour Party (PvdA).
General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives.
General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power.
A process of cabinet formation took place following the 2021 Dutch general election, leading to the formation of the Fourth Rutte cabinet in 2022. The coalition consisted of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU), the same parties that formed the preceding Third Rutte cabinet. At 299 days, it was the longest formation in Dutch history.
