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.

By province edit

• 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.