1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

The 1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election was held on 27 September 1998 to elect the members of the 3rd Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The incumbent government was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Berndt Seite. The SPD overtook the CDU as the largest party and chose not to continue the grand coalition. They subsequently formed a coalition with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the first of its kind in Germany on the state level, and SPD leader Harald Ringstorff was elected Minister-President.

1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

27 September 1998
All 71 seats in the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 36 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,084,611 (79.4%) 6.5%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Harald Ringstorff Berndt Seite Helmut Holter Party SPD CDU PDS Last election 23 seats, 29.5% 30 seats, 37.7% 18 seats, 22.7% Seats won 27 24 20 Seat change 4 6 2 Popular vote 371,885 327,948 264,299 Percentage 34.3% 30.2% 24.4% Swing 4.8% 7.5% 1.7%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Minister-President before election Berndt Seite CDU Elected Minister-President Harald Ringstorff SPD

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 2nd Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1994 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Berndt Seite	37.7%	30 / 71
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Harald Ringstorff	29.5%	23 / 71
	PDS	Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus	Democratic socialism	Helmut Holter	22.7%	18 / 71

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	CDU	SPD	PDS	FDP	Grüne	Others	Lead
1998 state election	27 Sep 1998	–	30.2	34.3	24.4	1.6	2.7	6.9	4.1
Infratest dimap	7–13 Sep 1998	1,000	30	38	22	2	3	5	8
Infratest dimap	26 Aug 1998	?	28	41	20	2	4	5	13
Emnid	8 Aug 1998	?	28	39	20	2	4	8	11
Infratest dimap	21 Jul 1998	?	26	39	23	2	4	6	13
Infratest dimap	9 Feb–29 Mar 1998	904	28	43	19	2	5	3	15
1994 state election	16 Oct 1994	–	37.7	29.5	22.7	3.8	3.7	2.6	8.2

Election result

Summary of the 27 September 1998 election results for the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	371,885	34.3	4.8	27	4	38.0
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	327,948	30.2	7.5	24	6	33.8
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	264,299	24.4	1.7	20	2	28.2
	German People's Union (DVU)	31,194	2.9	2.9	0	±0	0
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	29,240	2.7	1.0	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	17,062	1.6	2.2	0	±0	0
	Pro DM	15,619	1.4	New	0	New	0
	National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD)	11,531	1.1	1.0	0	±0	0
	Others	5,809	1.5		0	±0	0
Total		1,084,511	100.0		71	5
Voter turnout			79.4	6.5

Popular Vote SPD   34.29% CDU   30.24% PDS   24.37% DVU   2.88% B'90/GRÜNE   2.70% FDP   1.57% Other   3.96%

Bürgerschaft seats SPD   38.03% CDU   33.80% PDS   28.17%

Sources

• Wahl zum Landtag von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern