n polls to achieve a combined majority of seats in the 150-member lower house, Labour and Liberals have pledged to continue their ruling alliance but each is hoping to dictate the terms. The third party in the outgoing government, the reformist D66, is trailing badly in the polls after failing to make its mark on the current administration, while the opposition Christian Democrats have openly conceded their chances of returning to government are remote. In recent weeks the Labour (PvdA) party has opened a gap in the polls, helped by Kok's widespread popularity and the respect he has won even outside traditional Labour circles. Labour is hovering on 43 seats, up six, and the Liberals on 36, up five. As finance minister under the previous Christian Democrat-led government Kok effectively laid to rest the traditional image of the tax-and-spend social democrat. Under his own government, good house-keeping has reduced the budget deficit to a commendable 1.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product, well within the three percent norm for European economic and monetary Union (EMU). In four years of 'purple' administration -- so-called because of its mix of Labour red and Liberal blue -- the economy has gone from strength to strength and the Dutch have created jobs at about the same pace as Germany has lost them. Kok's reputation is unlikely to be dented by last weekend's climbdown over the appointment of former Dutch central banker Wim Duisenberg as the first head of the new European Central Bank (ECB) for a shortened four-year term. Duisenberg will be succeeded by France's Jean-Claude Trichet. Labour and Liberals speak with one voice on employment policy -- seeking a further 500,000 new jobs over the next four-year term -- law and order and infrastructure spending. But while Kok believes the country's rude economic health should enable increased public spending on low income households, Bolkestein is adamant a future government should give priority to reducing the budget deficit. In public debates the two have also clashed on immigration, with Bolkestein urging a fundamental rethink of asylum policy on the grounds that the Netherlands absorbs more than its fair share of refugees. Labour is understandably keen to invite centrist D66, honest broker in the present coalition, back for a second term, reportedly offering it two cabinet seats whatever the result.