1998 Lower Saxony state election

The 1998 Lower Saxony state election was held on 1 March 1998 to elect the members of the 14th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) government led by Minister-President Gerhard Schröder was returned with an increased majority. Schröder was subsequently re-elected as minister-president.

1998 Lower Saxony state election

← 1994 1 March 1998 2003 →
All 157 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony 79 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	4,314,932 (73.8%) 0.0%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gerhard Schröder Christian Wulff Party SPD CDU Greens Last election 81 seats, 44.3% 67 seats, 36.4% 13 seats, 7.4% Seats won 83 62 12 Seat change 2 5 1 Popular vote 2,068,477 1,549,227 304,193 Percentage 47.9% 35.9% 7.0% Swing 3.6% 0.5% 0.4%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Minister-President before election Gerhard Schröder SPD Elected Minister-President Gerhard Schröder SPD

Schröder took the election as a test run for a potential federal election in September. He said that if the SPD received less than 42 percent of the vote, he would rule out a bid to become the party's chancellor candidate. Achieving 47.9 percent of the vote, he later announced his (successful) candidacy and went on to form the first federal SPD-led government since 1982.^[1]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 13th Landtag of Lower Saxony.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1994 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Gerhard Schröder	44.3%	81 / 161
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Christian Wulff	36.4%	67 / 161
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics		7.4%	13 / 161

Election result

Summary of the 1 March 1998 election results for the Landtag of Lower Saxony

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,068,477	47.9	3.6	83	2	52.9
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	1,549,227	35.9	0.5	62	5	39.5
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	304,193	7.0	0.4	12	1	7.6
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	209,610	4.9	0.5	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	118,975	2.8	0.9	0	±0	0
	Others	64,450	1.5		0	±0	0
Total		4,314,932	100.0		157	4
Voter turnout			73.8	0.0

Popular Vote SPD   47.94% CDU   35.90% B'90/GRÜNE   7.05% FDP   4.86% REP   2.76% Other   1.49%

Landtag seats SPD   52.87% CDU   39.49% B'90/GRÜNE   7.64%