| Election Name: | 1998 Czech legislative election |
| Country: | Czech Republic |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1996 Czech legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1996 |
| Next Election: | 2002 Czech legislative election |
| Next Year: | 2002 |
| Seats For Election: | All 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies |
| Majority Seats: | 101 |
| Election Date: | 19–20 June 1998 |
| Image1: | Milos Zeman.jpg |
| Leader1: | Miloš Zeman |
| Party1: | Czech Social Democratic Party |
| Seats1: | 74 |
| Seat Change1: | 13 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,928,660 |
| Percentage1: | 32.31% |
| Swing1: | 2.69 pp |
| Leader2: | Václav Klaus |
| Party2: | Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) |
| Seats2: | 63 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,656,011 |
| Percentage2: | 27.74% |
| Swing2: | 1.88 pp |
| Image3: | Miroslav_Grebeníček_(4).jpg |
| Party3: | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia |
| Seats3: | 24 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Popular Vote3: | 658,550 |
| Percentage3: | 11.03% |
| Swing3: | 1.30 pp |
| Image4: | Josef_Lux_01.jpg |
| Leader4: | Josef Lux |
| Party4: | KDU-ČSL |
| Seats4: | 20 |
| Seat Change4: | 2 |
| Popular Vote4: | 537,013 |
| Percentage4: | 8.99% |
| Swing4: | 0.91pp |
| Image5: | Charta-setkání-signatářů-ke-40.-výročí-Lucerna2017-047.jpg |
| Leader5: | Jan Ruml |
| Party5: | US |
| Colour5: | 228b22 |
| Seats5: | 19 |
| Seat Change5: | New |
| Popular Vote5: | 513,596 |
| Percentage5: | 8.60% |
| Swing5: | New |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | Josef Tošovský |
| Before Party: | Independent (politician) |
| After Election: | Miloš Zeman |
| After Party: | Czech Social Democratic Party |
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 19 and 20 June 1998.[1] The Czech Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest party, winning 74 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 73.9%.[2]
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]
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]
| Party | Money spent (Kč) | |
|---|---|---|
| Civic Democratic Party | 30,000,000 | |
| Czech Social Democratic Party | 30,000,000 | |
| Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party | 30,000,000 | |
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | 8,000,000 | |
| Freedom Union | 2,000,000 | |
| align=left colspan=2 | Source: České Noviny |
| Polling firm | Date | ODS | ČSSD | KSČM | ODA | US | DŽJ | Others | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| < | --colour taken from the official ODS website.--> | < | --colour taken from the official ČSSD logo.--> | < | --colour taken from the official KSČM website.--> | < | --colour taken from the official KDU-ČSL logo.--> | |||||
| 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[9] | 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)[10] | April 1998 | 15.9 | 23.7 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 1.3 | 12.7 | 5.7 | 6.2 | 3.3 | ||
| IVVM[11] | 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)[12] | May 1998 | 16.3 | 25.4 | 10.5 | 9.0 | 1.3 | 13.7 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 3.2 | ||
| IVVM[13] | May 1998 | 14.2 | 22.1 | 8.5 | 5.8 | 0.6 | 9.1 | 3.9 | 10.2 | 26.2 | ||
| IVVM[14] | 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[15] | 10 June 1998 | 19.5 | 26.7 | 9.0 | 6.0 | n/a | 5.4 | n/a | n/a | 12.9 | ||
| Sofres Factum[16] | 12 June 1998 | 19.1 | 29.3 | 9.1 | 6.0 | n/a | 6.9 | n/a | n/a | 8.3 | ||
| STEM[17] | 12 June 1998 | 20.7 | 23.2 | 10.3 | 8.8 | n/a | 8.4 | n/a | n/a | 9.1 | ||
| Sofres Factum[18] | 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<ref name="statspol">Web site: 98-4. Statspol. 17 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20070703202725/http://www.statspol.cz/bulletiny/ib-98-4.pdf. 3 July 2007. dead. | 20 June 1998 | 27.1 | 32.2 | 11.4 | 9.2 | n/a | 8.5 | 3.9 | 3.0 | |||
| Sofres Factum[19] | 20 June 1998 | 27.0 | 32.0 | 11.0 | 9.2 | n/a | 8.4 | 3.8 | 3.8 | |||
| 27.7 | 32.3 | 11.0 | 9.0 | 0 | 8.6 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.5 | ||||