Page "Christian Democratic Appeal" Paragraph 17

The election result forced Van Agt to start talks with Den Uyl.

The animosity between Van Agt, who had been Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet Den Uyl, and Den Uyl, frustrated the talks.

After more than 300 days of negotiations, they finally officially failed, and Van Agt was able to negotiate a cabinet with the conservative liberal VVD.

The Cabinet Van Agt-I had a very narrow majority.

The unexpected cabinet with the VVD led to split within the newly founded CDA between more progressive and more conservative members.

The progressives remained within the party, and were known as loyalists.

On 11 October 1980, the three original parties ceased to exist and the CDA was founded as a unitary party.

After the 1981 general election, the VVD and the CDA had lost their majority, and the CDA was forced to cooperate with the PvdA.

Van Agt became prime minister and Den Uyl became deputy prime minister.

The second Van Agt cabinet was troubled by ideological and personal conflicts, and fell after one year.