Dutch general election, 1998

Dutch general election, 1998

← 1994 6 May 1998 2002 →
Turnout	73.4%
Party Leader % Seats ± PvdA Wim Kok 29.0% 45 +8 VVD Frits Bolkestein 24.7% 38 +7 CDA Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 18.3% 29 -5 D66 Els Borst 9.0% 14 -10 GL Paul Rosenmöller 7.3% 11 +6 SP Jan Marijnissen 3.5% 5 +3 RPF Leen van Dijke 2.0% 3 0 SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.7% 3 +1 GPV Gert Schutte 1.2% 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Strongest political party by municipality
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Wim Kok PvdA Wim Kok PvdA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998.

During the 1998 election the purple coalition of social-democrats and left and right liberals 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 progressive liberal D66.

Political observers attributed the win to the economic performance of the coalition, including 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.

The two small left opposition parties, the green GroenLinks, and the socialist SP, were rewarded for their 'quality opposition'. The major opposition party, CDA, uncomfortable in its opposition role, also lost seats. The two parties for the elderly AOV and Unie 55+ and the rightwing populist CD did not return to parliament.

The formation resulted in the continuation of the Kok cabinet, with the second Kok cabinet (PvdA, VVD & D66).