Parliamentary elections were held in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

on 19 and 20 June 1998.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p471 The

Czech Social Democratic Party Social Democracy (, SOCDEM), known as the Czech Social Democratic Party (, ČSSD) until 10 June 2023, is a social democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European ...

emerged as the largest party, winning 74 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 73.9%.

Background

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) had won the 1996 parliamentary elections. The party's leader,

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

, then formed a minority government supported by the

(ČSSD). The government lasted until 1998, when it resigned during a political crisis that caused the division of ODS and the disintegration of the ruling coalition. Snap elections was called for June 1998.

Campaign

The ODS was weakened by the creation of a new party, the Freedom Union (US). The US was formed by former members of ODS who had left after a conflict with

. The ODS was polling at around 10%, with the US expected to replace it as the major right-wing party. The ČSSD was expected to win by large margin. The ODS launched their campaign with warnings that a new government would contain Communist members and used its leader Klaus heavily during the campaign. The ČSSD criticised the work of Klaus' cabinet and recycled slogans used during 1996 campaign, as well as promising to fight against corruption.

Finances

Opinion polls

Results

Vote share by district

File:ODS - 1998.svg, ODS File:ČSSD - 1998.svg, CSSD File:KSČM - 1998.svg, KSCM File:KDU-ČSL - 1998.svg, KDU CSL File:SPR-RSČ - 1998.svg, SPR RSC

References

{{Czech elections

Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...