1998 German federal election

1998 German federal election

← 1994 27 September 1998 (1998-09-27) 2002 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 669 seats in the Bundestag 335 seats needed for a majority
Registered	60,762,751 ( 0.5%)
Turnout	82.2% ( 3.2 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Gerhard Schröder Helmut Kohl Joschka Fischer Party SPD CDU/CSU Greens Last election 36.4%, 252 seats 41.4%, 294 seats 7.3%, 49 seats Seats won 298 245 47 Seat change 46 49 2 Popular vote 20,181,269 17,329,388 3,301,624 Percentage 40.9% 35.1% 6.7% Swing 4.5 pp 6.3 pp 0.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Candidate Wolfgang Gerhardt Lothar Bisky Party FDP PDS Last election 6.9%, 47 seats 4.4%, 30 seats Seats won 43 36 Seat change 4 6 Popular vote 3,080,955 2,515,454 Percentage 6.2% 5.1% Swing 0.7 pp 0.7 pp
Results of the election. The main map shows constituency winners, and results for the proportional list seats are shown in the bottom left.
Government before election Fifth Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election First Schröder cabinet SPD–Green

Federal elections were held in Germany on 27 September 1998 to elect the members of the 14th Bundestag. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as the largest faction in parliament for the first time since 1972, with its leader Gerhard Schröder becoming chancellor. The Christian Democrats had their worst election result since 1949.^[1]