General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998.^[1]

Quick Facts Turnout, Party ...

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 % 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

Close

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.