1998 Czech legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 19 and 20 June 1998.[1] The result was a victory for the Czech Social Democratic Party, which won 74 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 73.9%.[2]

1998 Czech legislative election
19–20 June 1998
All 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Miloš Zeman Václav Klaus Miroslav Grebeníček
Party ČSSD ODS KSČM
Seats won 74 63 24
Seat change 13 5 2
Popular vote 1,928,660 1,656,011 658,550
Percentage 32.31% 27.74% 11.03%
Swing 2.69pp 1.88pp 1.30pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Josef Lux Jan Ruml
Party KDU–ČSL US
Seats won 20 19
Seat change 2 New
Popular vote 537,013 513,596
Percentage 8.99% 8.60%
Swing 0.91pp –
PM before election

Josef Tošovský
Independent

 Elected PM

Miloš Zeman
ČSSD

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Background

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) had won the 1996 parliamentary elections. The party's leader, Václav Klaus, then formed a minority government supported by the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).[3][4] 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.[5][6]

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 Václav Klaus. 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.[6]

Finances
Party Money spent (Kč)
Civic Democratic Party30,000,000
Czech Social Democratic Party30,000,000
Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party30,000,000
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia8,000,000
Freedom Union2,000,000
Source: České Noviny

Opinion polls
Polling firm Date ODS ČSSD KSČM KDU-ČSL ODA US SPR-RSČ DŽJ Others
STEM[7] January 1998 15.0 32.0 10.0 11.0 n/a n/a 5.0 n/a 27.0
IVVM January 1998[8] 15.4 28.0 8.6 11.1 5.3 n/a 3.5 0.6 26.4
STEM February 1998 12.0 29.0 11.0 9.0 n/a 11.0 8.0 n/a 20.0
IVVM March 1998[8] 10.3 25.7 8.0 7.7 1.2 12.6 5.4 1.6 27.9
STEM March 1998 11.0 30.0 9.0 9.0 n/a 18.0 8.0 n/a 15.0
STEM April 1998 16.0 24.0 11.0 9.0 1.4 13.0 6.0 4.0 15.6
IVVM (for US)[8] April 1998 15.9 23.7 10.7 9.1 1.3 12.7 5.7 6.2 3.3
IVVM[8] April 1998 11.3 25.1 10.0 8.0 0.4 12.0 4.6 4.9 23.5
STEM May 1998 16.0 25.0 11.0 9.0 n/a 14.0 5.0 n/a 20.0
IVVM (for US)[8] May 1998 16.3 25.4 10.5 9.0 1.3 13.7 5.1 6.3 3.2
IVVM[8] May 1998 14.2 22.1 8.5 5.8 0.6 9.1 3.9 10.2 26.2
IVVM[8] June 1998 15.0 22.5 7.4 7.1 n/a 6.8 4.2 9.0 26.8
STEM June 1998 19.0 22.0 9.0 7.0 n/a 8.0 5.0 n/a 30.0
Sofres Factum[9] 10 June 1998 19.5 26.7 9.0 6.0 n/a 5.4 n/a n/a 12.9
Sofres Factum[9] 12 June 1998 19.1 29.3 9.1 6.0 n/a 6.9 n/a n/a 8.3
STEM[9] 12 June 1998 20.7 23.2 10.3 8.8 n/a 8.4 n/a n/a 9.1
Sofres Factum[9] 17 June 1998 21.4 27.6 9.2 7.5 n/a 7.1 n/a n/a 10.3
Exit Polls
IFES and SC&C[9] 20 June 1998 27.1 32.2 11.4 9.2 n/a 8.5 3.9 3.0
Sofres Factum[9] 20 June 1998 27.0 32.0 11.0 9.2 n/a 8.4 3.8 3.8
Election results 19-20 June 1998 27.7 32.3 11.0 9.0 0 8.6 3.9 3.1 3.5

Results
Popular vote
ČSSD
 
 32.31%
ODS
 
 27.74%
KSČM
 
 11.03%
KDU-ČSL
 
 8.99%
US
 
 8.60%
SPR-RSČ
 
 3.90%
DŽJ
 
 3.06%
DEU
 
 1.44%
SZ
 
 1.12%
Others
 
 1.81%
Parliamentary seats
ČSSD
 
 37.00%
ODS
 
 31.50%
KSČM
 
 12.00%
KDU-ČSL
 
 10.00%
US
 
 9.50%
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Czech Social Democratic Party1,928,66032.3174+13
Civic Democratic Party1,656,01127.7463–5
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia658,55011.0324+2
KDU-ČSL537,0138.9920+2
Freedom Union513,5968.6019New
SPR-RSČ232,9653.900–18
Pensioners for Life Security182,9003.0600
Democratic Union86,4311.4400
Green Party67,1431.120New
Independents51,9810.8700
Moravian Democratic Party22,2820.370New
Czech National Social Party17,1850.290New
Civic Coalition – Political Club14,7880.250New
Invalid/blank votes25,339–––
Total5,994,8441002000
Registered voters/turnout8,116,83673.9––
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References
  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p471 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p472
  3. Charvát, Jakub (2013). Politika volebních reforem v ČR po roce 1989 (in Czech). Grada Publishing a.s. p. 95. ISBN 9788024747002. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  4. "Historie voleb od roku 1990. Připomeňte si polistopadovou éru". Nova.cz (in Czech). 27 May 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  5. "Od Klause k Paroubkovi - české vlády "sebevrahů"". iDNES.cz. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  6. "Kampaň k volbám do Poslanecké sněmovny 1998". IPM (in Czech). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  7. Koutník, Ondřej (31 March 2009). Vznik a vývoj politické strany Unie svobody v letech 1998–2004 (PDF). Olomouc: Palacký University. p. 32. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  8. "Nesstar WebView". nesstar.soc.cas.cz. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  9. "98-4" (PDF). Statspol. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
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