1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

The 1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election to elect the members of the 3rd Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was held on 27 September 1998 in connection with the 1998 German federal election which resulted in a record high voter turnout.

The incumbent government was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Berndt Seite. As on federal level, 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 re-named party that as SED had ruled former East Germany. This Red–red coalition was the first of its kind in Germany on the state level, and SPD leader Harald Ringstorff was elected Minister-President.

The SPD remained the largest political party in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state elections until dropping to second in the 2026 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election to the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

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 Christian democracy Berndt Seite 37.7% SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Harald Ringstorff 29.5% PDS Party of Democratic Socialism Democratic socialism Helmut Holter 22.7%

Opinion polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize 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

| colspan=8 | |- ! colspan="2" | Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | align=right| 371,885 | align=right| 34.3 | align=right| 4.8 | align=right| 27 | align=right| 4 | align=right| 38.0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | align=right| 327,948 | align=right| 30.2 | align=right| 7.5 | align=right| 24 | align=right| 6 | align=right| 33.8 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | align=right| 264,299 | align=right| 24.4 | align=right| 1.7 | align=right| 20 | align=right| 2 | align=right| 28.2 |- ! colspan=8| |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | German People's Union (DVU) | align=right| 31,194 | align=right| 2.9 | align=right| 2.9 | align=right| 0 | align=right| ±0 | align=right| 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | align=right| 29,240 | align=right| 2.7 | align=right| 1.0 | align=right| 0 | align=right| ±0 | align=right| 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | align=right| 17,062 | align=right| 1.6 | align=right| 2.2 | align=right| 0 | align=right| ±0 | align=right| 0

Sources Wahl zum Landtag von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

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