Following the fall of the Cals cabinet on 14 October 1966 the Labour Party left the coalition, subsequently Queen Juliana appointed SenatorJelle Zijlstra, a former Minister of Finance as Prime Minister to form a rump cabinet with the Catholic People's Party and the Anti-Revolutionary Party. On 22 November 1966 the Zijlstra cabinet was installed and served as a caretaker government until the election of 1967. After the election on 15 February 1967 the Catholic People's Party was the winner of the election even after losing 8 seats and had now a total of 40 seats in the House of Representatives. Incumbent Prime Minister Jelle Zijlstra was appointed as Informateur by Queen Juliana to start the cabinet formation process. After a first round of talks the Catholic People's Party, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union agreed to form a coalition. On 6 March 1967, Queen Juliana appointed Vice-President of the Council of StateLouis Beel, a former Prime Minister as the new Informateur to start the next formation phase. On 9 March 1967 incumbent Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and FisheriesBarend Biesheuvel, the Leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party was asked to form a new cabinet and was asked to become Formateur. The negotiations were troubled by objections from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy about prospect of Barend Biesheuvel as Prime Minister because he served in the previous Centre-left Cals cabinet. On 20 March 1967 after long negotiations between the parties, Barend Biesheuvel failed to form a cabinet. In order to break the deadlock the Catholic People's Party suggested that incumbent Minister of Defence Piet de Jong would be a good candidate to form a new cabinet. Piet de Jong a former Naval officer who served as a World War II submarine commander had a good reputation as a pragmatic minister and was seen as a compromise candidate. On 21 March 1967 Piet de Jong was tasked with forming a new cabinet and was appointed as Formateur. On 4 April 1967 the cabinet formation was completed and the De Jong cabinet was installed the next day.
Term
It was the first Cabinet of the Netherlands after World War II that completed a full term without any internal conflicts. The cabinet was confronted with a demand for democratic reforms in the society and it decided to democratise colleges and universities after the famous maagdenhuisbezetting. Plans were made to modernise politics by establishing an electoral system with districts or a chosen prime minister, but these plans were not implemented. Meanwhile, a pay pause due to the decision of employers and employees to raise wages was partly revoked after anti-government demonstrations and strikes. More unrest took shape in demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. Internationally, relations with Indonesia improved, resulting in a visit by president Suharto, which was, however, overshadowed by the occupation of the Indonesian embassy by Moluccans. The Soviet Union invasion in Czechoslovakia was seen as a reason to increase the defence budget.
