first ever provincial assembly member, in North Brabant. A year later he became the SP's national president. Under his leadership the party was transformed from "a federation of local branches" into a party with a clear national programme, nationally-organised activities and a national profile. National politics Beginning in 1994, when the SP made the breakthrough which brought it into the House of Representatives, Marijnissen was chairman of the party's parliamentary group. After gaining two out of the 150 parliamentary seats during this first breakthrough, support for him and his party rose slowly but continuously. After four years in parliament, his Socialist Party went under his lead from two to five seats during the national elections of 1998, which was followed by a growth towards nine seats in 2002. In 2003, after the 87-day term of Balkenende I, the Socialist Party didn't manage to gain more seats than the year before and stayed at the same level with again 9 out of 150 seats. Although there was a slight rise in number of people who voted for the SP compared to a year before, a few weeks before the elections the polls suggested the SP might double. After the 2004 elections a conflict arose between Jan Marijnissen and Ali Lazrak, when the latter refused to conform to an agreement that required all SP politicians to donate part of their wages. Lazrak accused Marijnissen of dictatorial behavior; an attempt to settle the argument failed and Lazrak left the fraction on 2 February 2004. In February 2006 the party was polled on 9.5% of the electorate in the municipal elections. After the untimely end of Balkenende II and the minority government of Balkenende III, the SP won 16 more seats in the 2006 elections to a total of 25, becoming the third party of the Netherlands. Soon after, the party membership passed 50,000. In 2006 a majority of members of parliament voted for his idea to build a National Historic Museum in the Netherlands. In 2007 the Minister of Culture decided the city Arnhem would be its residence. On 17 June 2008 Marijnissen announced his resignation as chairman of the SP group in the House of Representatives because of health reasons. However, he remains a member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the Socialist Party. Marijnissen was said to appeal to the 'common man' because of his use of simple language.