Eropa

The CDA campaign of 1994 in style and content: an analysis

In the 1994 election campaign, most attention was paid to the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), led by party leader Elco Brinkman. First of all, the CDA was the largest (government) party at that time, from which the incumbent Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers also came. Secondly, the great attention paid to the CDA arose from the introduction of innovative, striking elements in the CDA campaign. Third, the CDA ultimately suffered a major, bitter defeat: how could this happen?

Lack of unity within the party

Choice for Brinkman’s premiership

In May 1992, Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, the face of the CDA for many years, appointed Elco Brinkman as his crown prince. In practice, this decision represented a transition from a confident, experienced statesman to a talented but businesslike personality who was also not a minister. During 1993, Lubbers increasingly began to doubt his decision. For example, the outgoing Prime Minister questioned the automatic principle that the list leader of a party is also a Prime Minister candidate. In addition, Lubbers suggested that socialist Wim Kok would not be inferior to Brinkman as prime minister and he acknowledged that he had appointed Brinkman as successor too early. These developments cooled the relationship between Lubbers and Brinkman. What was also disastrous was Lubbers’ announcement, shortly before the House of Representatives elections of May 1994, that he would vote for Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin instead of Brinkman, because of the former’s administrative skills and his principled attitude towards abortion.

Relationship between the CDA faction and the cabinet

The relationship between the CDA faction and CDA ministers from the Lubbers III cabinet, which consisted of CDA and PvdA, has been characterized by tensions since the 1992 WAO debate. While Lubbers defended his cabinet policy, the CDA faction led by Brinkman often accused the cabinet of a lack of decisiveness. However, there were even more contradictions. While Brinkman thought a WAO agreement with the VVD was desirable, Lubbers concluded this agreement with the PvdA. Other problematic relationships within the CDA were the oppositional criticism of the CDA Senate faction, including Senator Kaland, on cabinet policy and the lack of cohesion at the top of the CDA candidate list as a result of substantive contradictions between ministers and faction members. The different insights into cabinet policy ultimately led to a situation in which Brinkman during the campaign had the will, but not the ability, to attack the policy of the current cabinet.

Lubbers’ substantive leading role in the campaign

Partly due to his lack of confidence in Crown Prince Brinkman, Lubbers took a leading role in the representation of the CDA before the start of the campaign by speaking out about future coalition formations. In mid-April, as a result of the unfavorable polls for the CDA, Lubbers finally entered the campaign as ‘the’ face of the CDA. In this role he would get in Brinkman’s way, both personally and substantively, and he even distanced himself from his previous preference for the PvdA by condemning this party’s turn to the left.

Criticism of campaign style

Another point on which disagreement arose within the CDA was the style of the campaign. While initially the new ideas of campaign leader Frits Wester were widely embraced, during the campaign Minister De Vries and State Secretary Heerma, among others, criticized the somewhat theatrical way in which Brinkman was presented, which, according to these critics, sacrificed the content at the expense of the shape. Moreover, Brinkman’s difficult relationship with the KRO led to tensions among several CDA prominent figures with KRO chairman and former CDA minister Braks.

Social face of the CDA

A final point of conflict within the CDA was the proposed freezing of benefits, which also included the AOW. Several elderly people in the party’s rank and file were against this freeze. Despite support from the party council for the proposal, party chairman Van Velzen would resign because of the presentation of these plans and a discussion about the Christian character of the CDA. A member of the council would also switch from the CDA to the General Elderly Association (AOV).

Content aspects of the campaign

Trial by fire ’94

Prior to the parliamentary elections of 1994, people within the CDA mainly feared the growing competition from other parties. The VVD, D66 and the small Christian parties in particular threatened the position of the CDA. When the document Fire Trial 94 was drawn up in the spring of 1993, outlining the main lines of the campaign, the party leadership decided to pay particular attention to the following points: innovation, economy and employment, the Christian character of the party and security & crime.

Renewal

On the eve of the 1994 elections, there was a great call for innovation. Discussions around the credibility of politics took on increasingly strong forms. The CDA therefore decided to make a fairly rigorous break with the past during the campaign. First of all, this split meant that a large number of veterans within the party had to make way for a younger generation of Christian Democrats. This innovation was clearly reflected in the succession of Lubbers by Brinkman. In addition to this personnel change, the break with the past also manifested itself in the fact that the CDA clearly distanced itself from the Lubbers III cabinet and its policies in its campaign – in contrast to the other major government party, the PvdA.

Economy and employment

The economic conditions were not really favorable at the beginning of 1994: unemployment and mass layoffs colored the picture in those days. Following the opposition, the CDA therefore decided to take drastic measures. As the most important measure to safeguard employment, the CDA proposed freezing all benefits. When it turned out that this measure would also apply to the AOW, this led to great unrest among the elderly. The party received a lot of criticism as a result and the freezing of the state pension became the most important theme of the 1994 campaign.

The Christian character of the party

Another important point was the restoration of the Christian character of the party. During the municipal elections of March 1994, the CDA had to yield ground to the small Christian parties in a number of traditionally strong CDA regions. That is why the party took a clear position on some ethical issues, such as the liberalization of euthanasia and abortion, during the 1994 campaign. CDA celebrity Hirsch Ballin in particular played an important role in this when he warned of the consequences of a purple cabinet. His statement that a society would then arise in which parents of mongooses should be ashamed that they did not perform an abortion was not well received. All major parties criticized and PvdA Minister Van Thijn even called Hirsch Ballin’s statements fundamentalist.

Safety and crime

Of all parties, the VVD in particular turned out to be the major electoral competitor of the CDA. This party took advantage of the increasing uncertainty in society. The elderly in particular appeared to be increasingly concerned about the rapidly increasing crime and insecurity on the streets. Because the CDA seemed to be losing its grip on this important group of voters (partly due to the state pension problem), the party decided to put combating crime forward as a program item. This hoped to take the wind out of the VVD’s sails and limit the predicted loss.

Brinkman in the media

Detachment

The CDA was of the opinion that Brinkman had grown into a prominent personality through his seven years as party leader. However, in terms of appearance, the party leader was in no way comparable to Lubbers. Brinkman’s profile was one of a competent, knowledgeable and reliable, but above all, a business leader. Brinkman radiated a certain aloofness in the media and lacked a certain warmth. Doubts also arose about his social face. One of the most important goals in the CDA campaign in 1994 was to present Brinkman as a sociable and warm, tangible person.

Americanization

The CDA campaign of 1994 is particularly known for the implementation of American political strategies, or ‘Americanization’, led by campaign leader Frits Wester. However, the point of criticism from many media is that the CDA would play too much of the personal card instead of focusing on the content. A response from Frits Wester: ,Nowadays people want to know who the politicians are, just like in the past, the people are important, such as Den Uyl and Van Agt. But that does not mean that the man is more important than the content. That man is for a certain content,. Yet it can certainly be said that Brinkman made himself vulnerable in 1994 by making his personal life public. Voters were presented with a semi-accessible presentation of Brinkman as a person, which was reinforced by innovative strategies such as a bus campaign, simple working visits – aimed at ‘free publicity’ – and the so-called ‘Brinkman shuffle’: a loose, personal way in which the CDA party leader presented himself on stage. Brinkman’s presentation in the media was ultimately far from a success: firstly, fundamental cultural differences between the American and Dutch political landscape were overlooked and secondly, Brinkman’s relationship with the media, including the critical KRO program Reporter, a very difficult and reproachful character.