| Election Name: | 1998 Lower Saxony state election |
| Country: | Lower Saxony |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1994 Lower Saxony state election |
| Previous Year: | 1994 |
| Next Election: | 2003 Lower Saxony state election |
| Next Year: | 2003 |
| Seats For Election: | All 157 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony |
| Majority Seats: | 79 |
| Election Date: | 1 March 1998 |
| Turnout: | 4,314,932 (73.8%) 0.0% |
| Leader1: | Gerhard Schröder |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 81 seats, 44.3% |
| Seats1: | 83 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,068,477 |
| Percentage1: | 47.9% |
| Swing1: | 3.6% |
| Leader2: | Christian Wulff |
| Party2: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 67 seats, 36.4% |
| Seats2: | 62 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,549,227 |
| Percentage2: | 35.9% |
| Swing2: | 0.5% |
| Party3: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Seats3: | 12 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 304,193 |
| Percentage3: | 7.0% |
| Swing3: | 0.4% |
| Map Size: | 350px |
| Minister-President | |
| Before Election: | Gerhard Schröder |
| Before Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| After Election: | Gerhard Schröder |
| After Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
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.
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]
The table below lists parties represented in the 13th Landtag of Lower Saxony.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 1994 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Gerhard Schröder | 44.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Christian Wulff | 36.4% | |||
| bgcolor= | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens | Green politics | 7.4% | ||||
|-! colspan="2" | Party! Votes! %! +/-! Seats ! +/-! Seats %|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD)| align=right| 2,068,477| align=right| 47.9| align=right| 3.6| align=right| 83| align=right| 2| align=right| 52.9|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU)| align=right| 1,549,227| align=right| 35.9| align=right| 0.5| align=right| 62| align=right| 5| align=right| 39.5|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)| align=right| 304,193| align=right| 7.0| align=right| 0.4| align=right| 12| align=right| 1| align=right| 7.6|-! colspan=8||-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP)| align=right| 209,610| align=right| 4.9| align=right| 0.5| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=|| align=left | The Republicans (REP)| align=right| 118,975| align=right| 2.8| align=right| 0.9| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=|| align=left | Others| align=right| 64,450| align=right| 1.5| align=right| | align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-! align=right colspan=2| Total! align=right| 4,314,932! align=right| 100.0! align=right| ! align=right| 157! align=right| 4! align=right| |-! align=right colspan=2| Voter turnout! align=right| ! align=right| 73.8! align=right| 0.0! align=right| ! align=right| ! align=right| |}