The social democrats increased their vote from 24 percent to 29 percent, and won 45 seats in the 150-seat parliament. Their coalition partner, the right-wing liberal VVD, also registered an increase in its percentage of the vote, and gained 38 seats in the legislature. D'66 lost ten of its former 24 seats. The Christian Democrats, the strongest party in parliament until 1994, continued its decline and received only 18 percent of the votes cast.
Every third job is part-time, and wages are correspondingly low.
Poverty is spreading. In the space of two years the number of millionaires has increased by a third, while one in ten households live at the poverty level. Until then these two tendencies had been considered the opposite poles of Dutch political life. While both of these parties gained in the May 6 election, a more detailed analysis demonstrates that their electoral success does not indicate widespread support for their policies. The social democrats, despite their gains, could not overcome the losses they suffered in 1994, after the collapse of their four-year coalition with the Christian Democrats.