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	49,947,087 (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
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.
Government before election Fifth Kohl cabinet CDU/CSU–FDP Government after election First Schröder cabinet SPD–Green

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Germany
Constitution (Basic Law) Federal Constitutional Court Human rights
Head of State President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)
Executive Chancellor of Germany (list) Olaf Scholz (SPD) Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Grüne) Cabinet Scholz Federal agencies
Legislature Bundestag constituencies members Bundesrat Vermittlungsausschuss Gemeinsamer Ausschuss
Judiciary Federal Constitutional Court Federal courts Ordinary Administrative Fiscal Labour Social Joint Senate Other courts
Subdivisions State (Land) Minister president State Parliament (Landtag) composition Regierungsbezirk District (Kreis) list Collective municipality (Amt) Municipality (Gemeinde) list
Elections Electoral system Political parties Referendums Coalitions Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) Presidential elections Weimar Republic (1919–1933) 1919 1925 1932 East Germany (1949–1960) 1949 1953 1957 Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2010 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary election 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025 European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
State and local politics State Politics Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia
Foreign relations Foreign relations by country France Italy UK USA China Russia International Relations Politics of the European Union Visa Passport
Political ideologies Political culture / Federalism Communism Conservatism (Agrarian Conservatism) Far-right Liberalism Social Democracy
Germany portal Politics portal Other countries
v t e

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]