1994 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 3 May 1994.<ref name=NS>Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 Template:ISBN</ref> The Labour Party emerged as the largest party, winning 37 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.<ref>Nohlen & Stöver, p1414</ref> The election resulted in significant losses for both the Labour Party and the Christian Democratic Appeal. The two liberal parties, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democrats 66 made large gains, whilst two pro-elderly parties and the Socialist Party all passed the electoral threshold to win seats.

The formation of a government coalition was arduous but after four months the First Kok cabinet was formed. It was an unprecedented coalition of the two liberal parties and Labour. The CDA was consigned to opposition for the first time in its history. It was also the first government since 1918 not to include a Christian Democratic party.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp

Background

Before the 1994 general election opinion polls predicted that the Centre Democrats party could win more than five seats in the House of Representatives. However, media reports claiming that some newly elected local members had extremist pasts damaged the Centre Democrats' prospects. A secret recording broadcast on national television one week before the election showed an Amsterdam council member bragging about having set immigrant centers on fire in the early 1980s.<ref name=m125/> In the election that followed, the Centre Democrats won 2.5% of the vote and three seats in the House of Representatives (Janmaat was joined by Wil Schuurman and Cor Zonneveld),<ref name=hist>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> well below earlier expectations. Janmaat claimed that the relatively poor result was a result of an anti-CD campaign in the media.<ref name=m125>Mudde, 2003, p. 125.</ref> Due to its growth, and questions arising amongst the other parties over the development of a multicultural society, political opponents began to confront the Centre Democrats directly rather than maintain a strict cordon sanitaire around it.<ref name=ing>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Lucardie, 1998, p. 121.</ref>

Results

By province

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Province	PvdA	CDA	VVD	D66	AOV	GL	CD	RPF	SGP	GPV	SP	U55+	Others
	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|
Template:Flag	34.5	19.8	18.2	13.9	2.1	2.5	1.2	1.7	0.2	2.4	1.0	0.6	1.8
Template:Flag	20.1	17.6	23.6	17.0	4.2	3.1	2.4	2.8	2.4	2.1	1.3	1.0	2.4
Template:Flag	31.6	27.5	14.2	12.5	2.2	3.0	1.1	2.6	0.6	2.2	0.6	0.4	1.9
Template:Flag	23.8	24.7	18.3	15.3	2.8	3.3	1.8	2.7	3.2	1.1	1.0	0.6	1.7
Template:Flag	34.8	17.3	14.2	14.1	2.8	4.5	1.3	1.8	0.2	4.5	1.7	0.6	1.3
Template:Flag	24.5	28.9	14.8	14.5	5.4	3.2	3.0	0.2	0.1	0.4	2.2	1.0	1.4
Template:Flag	21.0	27.1	18.1	16.3	5.7	2.8	2.8	0.5	0.5	0.4	2.2	1.0	2.8
Template:Flag	24.9	16.2	24.5	17.2	4.1	4.9	2.3	0.9	0.3	0.6	0.9	1.0	1.6
Template:Flag	24.2	29.6	15.4	12.9	2.1	2.5	1.5	3.2	2.1	2.9	0.8	1.2	1.6
Template:Flag	22.2	18.3	23.4	15.8	3.2	3.1	3.5	2.1	3.0	1.2	1.5	0.8	1.8
Template:Flag	19.1	20.6	23.2	16.9	2.9	4.7	2.4	2.5	2.3	2.0	0.9	0.8	1.5
Template:Flag	22.4	20.9	18.8	13.5	3.7	2.4	2.8	3.0	7.9	1.8	0.6	0.9	2.2

Further reading

• Irwin, Galen A. "The Dutch Parliamentary Election of 1994," Electoral Studies (1995) 14#1 pp. 72–77