[3]: 194 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.

[4] 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),[5] well below earlier expectations.

[4] 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.