The 1994 general election produces the most spectacular outcome in Dutch political history. The two parties in the governing coalition lose a total of 32 seats, 20 of them held by the Christian Democrats. The social democrats also lose 12 seats but are still left as the biggest parliamentary party. The result leads to the first ever coalition between social democrats and right-leaning and left-leaning liberals. It is known as the ëpurpleí coalition because it represents a mixture of the ëredí social democrats and the ëblueí liberals. For the first time in over half a century, the Christian Democrats find themselves relegated to the opposition.
