1998 Dutch general election

Last updated

1998 Dutch general election
Flag of the Netherlands.svg
  1994 6 May 1998 2002  

All 150 seats in the House of Representatives
76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout73.35% (Decrease2.svg 5.40pp)
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
PvdA Wim Kok 28.9845+8
VVD Frits Bolkestein 24.6938+7
CDA Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 18.3729−5
D66 Els Borst 8.9914−10
GL Paul Rosenmöller 7.2711+6
SP Jan Marijnissen 3.535+3
RPF Leen van Dijke 2.0330
SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.783+1
GPV Gert Schutte 1.2620
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 1998.png
Most voted-for party by municipality
Cabinet beforeCabinet after
First Kok cabinet
PvdAVVDD66
Second Kok cabinet
PvdAVVDD66

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).

Contents

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.

Results

1998 Dutch General Election.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Labour Party 2,494,55528.9845+8
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 2,124,97124.6938+7
Christian Democratic Appeal 1,581,05318.3729–5
Democrats 66 773,4978.9914–10
GroenLinks 625,9687.2711+6
Socialist Party 303,7033.535+3
Reformatory Political Federation 174,5932.0330
Reformed Political Party 153,5831.783+1
Reformed Political League 108,7241.2620
Centre Democrats 52,2260.610–3
General Elderly AllianceUnion 55+ 45,9940.530–7
Mobile Netherlands 45,2190.530New
Seniors 200036,1570.420New
New Middle Party 23,5120.270New
The Greens 16,5850.1900
Natural Law Party 15,7460.1800
Catholic Political Party8,2330.100New
Free Indian Party7,2250.0800
New Solidarity Elderly Union6,4550.070New
New Communist Party of the Netherlands 5,6200.0700
Idealists/Jij2,5000.030New
The Voters Collective1,6680.020New
Total8,607,787100.001500
Valid votes8,607,78799.83
Invalid/blank votes14,4350.17
Total votes8,622,222100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,755,13273.35
Source: Kiesraad [3]

By province

Results by province [4]
Province PvdA VVD CDA D66 GL SP RPF SGP GPV Others
Flag of Drenthe.svg  Drenthe 37.321.617.98.15.62.91.90.22.42.1
Flag of Flevoland.svg  Flevoland 25.829.114.89.06.62.73.32.32.24.2
Frisian flag.svg  Friesland 33.616.426.47.06.83.22.40.51.91.8
Flag of Gelderland.svg  Gelderland 29.023.020.48.16.72.93.13.31.12.4
Flag of Groningen.svg  Groningen 37.116.416.08.68.14.31.90.24.52.9
Flag of Limburg.svg  Limburg 29.921.324.37.47.55.00.20.00.24.2
North Brabant-Flag.svg  North Brabant 28.924.521.58.46.75.30.60.40.33.4
Flag of North Holland.svg  North Holland 28.429.212.511.59.73.11.00.30.53.8
Flag of Overijssel.svg  Overijssel 29.018.726.76.65.62.63.22.32.92.4
Flag of Zuid-Holland.svg  South Holland 27.728.014.69.46.73.42.63.11.13.4
Utrecht (province)-Flag.svg  Utrecht 23.627.716.011.48.62.63.02.42.02.7
Flag of Zeeland.svg  Zeeland 27.823.317.26.95.52.83.68.31.82.8

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Party for Freedom and Democracy</span> Dutch political party

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 that tries to promote private enterprise and economic liberalism.

The Labour Party is a social democratic political party in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the Netherlands</span>

The Netherlands is 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Democratic Appeal</span> Dutch political party

The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Kok cabinet</span> Cabinet of the Netherlands, 1998 to 2002

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democrats 66</span> Political party in the Netherlands

Democrats 66 is a social liberal and progressive 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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Balkenende cabinet</span> Cabinet of the Netherlands, 2003 to 2006

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Dutch general election</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2003 Dutch general election</span>

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 January 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic People's Party</span> Political party in Netherlands

The Catholic People's Party was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the interwar Roman Catholic State Party, which was in turn a successor of the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses. The party was in government throughout its existence. In 1977, a federation of parties including the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and the Christian Historical Union (CHU) ran together under the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) banner. The three participating parties formally dissolved to form the CDA in 1980.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political Party of Radicals</span> Political party in Netherlands

The Political Party of Radicals was a Christian-radical and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to form GroenLinks in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Dutch general election</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Kok cabinet</span> Cabinet of the Netherlands, 1994 to 1998

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.

A Purple coalition 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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Dutch general election</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021–2022 Dutch cabinet formation</span>

Following the Dutch general election on 17 March 2021, a cabinet formation led to the establishment of the fourth Rutte cabinet in 2022. The coalition included the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU), the same parties from the preceding third Rutte cabinet. This formation process, lasting 299 days, was the longest formation in Dutch history.

A process of cabinet formation took place in the Netherlands after the Second Kok cabinet offered its resignation on 19 May 1999. The reason for the dismissal was the Night of Wiegel, after which the Democrats 66 (D66) wanted to resign. After discussions led by informateur Herman Tjeenk Willink, D66 was willing to join the cabinet with People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Labour Party (PvdA). The cabinet therefore withdrew his resignation on 8 June.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Netherlands: Elections held in 1998 Inter-Parliamentary Union
  3. https://www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl/verkiezingen/detail/TK19980506
  4. "Tweede Kamer 6 mei 1998". Kiesraad (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 November 2021.

Further reading