German federal election, 1998

In 1998, a German federal election was conducted on September 27, 1998, to elect members to the 14th Bundestag, the lower house, of Germany.

Issues and Campaign

The 1998 federal election took place against the background of high unemployment in Germany, with the Federal Labor Office registering 4 million unemployed inhabitants. The German economy had decisively slowed down after the reunification in October 1990. Many voters blamed centre-right coalition government between Christian Democrats/Conservative Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) for the economic crisis. This was particularly so, as long-time Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government was regarded by many as having underestimated the economic cost of integrating the former communist East Germany into the Federal Republic.

The 1998 campaign began with both the CDU and SPD questioning who would lead their parties. There had been talk that Helmut Kohl would step aside and allow Wolfgang Schauble to take the reins of CDU but these talks were quashed when Kohl announced in April 1997 that he would seek the chancellorship again. The two contenders for the SPD nomination were Oskar Lafontaine, the party's chairman, and Gerhard Schröder, Minister-President of Lower Saxony. On 1 March 1998, Schröder led the SPD to victory in the Lower Saxony state election, effectively clinching the SPD nomination for federal chancellor. Schröder had announced he would withdraw his bid for the nomination if he fell below 42 percent in the election; Schröder received 47.9 percent. [Pulzer, Peter. “The German Federal Election of 1998.” West European Politics July 1999: 241-249] Following the election Lafontaine withdrew his bid and Schröder was nominated in the May convention. For the SPD Schröder offered a new face for the party. He gave the party a new vigor one that was lacking in the CDU after Kohl proclaimed his nomination. Many in the CDU questioned if Kohl had made the right choice for the party.1 The CDU campaign was based on the experience and reputation of Kohl. One of the CDU’s main slogans became ‘Safety, not Risks.’ “Kohl…exploited his familiarity and experience, as well as his status as Europe’s longest serving head of government.” [ibid.] The SPD on the other hand ran the campaign using strategies developed in the United States and the United Kingdom.2 The SPD set up an election headquarters and introduced ‘rapid rebuttal units’ not unlike those used by Bill Clinton in his successful presidential bid in 1992. [Green, Simon. "The 1998 German Bundestag election: The end of an era." Parliamentary Affairs Apr 1999: 52. :Pg. 306-320. LexisNexis Academic. Leslie F. Maplass Library, Macomb, IL. 24 Feb ] The SPD avoided direct attacks at Kohl but rather focused on their message of a “new center.’ [ibid.] Schröder emphasized the fact that he was the new Germany while Kohl was the old way of Germany.1 While the two major parties battled it out the smaller ones fought to stake their claim.

The FDP had usually ridden on the coattails of the CDU and in early polls were suffering. With the SPD well ahead in the polls, many of the voters from the CDU had less incentive to vote for the partner. The FDP was also having trouble projecting a coherent platform to voters. The Greens too were having issues with their platform.

The two factions in the Greens, the fundamentalists and the pragmatists, had had problems settling on their platform since the 1980s.

The major issue of the 1998 campaign quickly became unemployment. Early in 1996, the unemployment rate in Germany surpassed the political taboo of 4 million. Both parties blamed high labor cost, high taxes and the huge welfare cost as main contributors to the problem. During the campaign, Schröder used this issue against Kohl calling him ‘the unemployment chancellor.’ Unemployment was even worst in the former East Germany. While the national rate stood at 11 percent, former East Germany was suffering at 20 percent. Many in the east began to blame Kohl for the slow pace of promised economic growth.

Another issue at hand was Germany’s tax and welfare reforms. While the CDU/CSU had offered proposals to reduce benefits in sick pay and pensions, the SPD controlled Bundesrat halted passage of the bill. The proposed bill also offered tax cuts that were seen to be in favor of the rich, something SPD did not on their hands in an election year. While Kohl continually pushed the issue of European integration, the issue fell short from voters’ minds. Schröder on the other hand nearly ignored the issue. Many voters in Germany had other concerns besides the European Union.

Results

Post-election

Results

Toward the end of the campaign, polls placed the CDU/CSU and FDP coalition in a dead heat with the SPD and Green coalition.2 Despite these polls, the final numbers told a different story. The SPD-Green coalition won an unexpectedly convincing victory, taking 345 seats and earning a strong majority in the Bundestag--the first left-wing absolute majority in post-World War II Germany. The SPD won 40.9 percent of the vote, a healthy increase of 4.5 percent from 1994.

The CDU/CSU-FDP coalition was severely mauled. It had gone into the election with a solid majority of 341 seats, but was cut down to 288 seats. The CDU/CSU was particularly hammered; it lost 6.2% of its 1994 vote, and lost 109 electoral districts to the SPD. Germany's mixed-member proportional system, in which a slate of statewide delegates are elected alongside the electorate delegates, softened the blow somewhat, so the CDU/CSU only suffered a net loss of 49 seats. It was still the CDU/CSU's worst defeat ever.

A new government was formed by a coalition between the SPD and the Greens, with the SPD's Schröder as chancellor and Greens leader Joschka Fischer as vice-chancellor and foreign minister. It was the first Red-Green coalition government at the federal level in Germany, as well as the first purely left-wing government in post-World War II Germany.

Helmut Kohl, touched by scandal, stepped down as chairman of the CDU, and CSU chairman Theodor Waigel stepped down as well.

Legacy

The 1998 German election was historic in many ways. It marked the most dramatic swing of the pendulum in postwar German history--from a government of the centre-right to a government of the left.

In addition, it brought to an end the sixteen-year rule of Helmut Kohl--the second-longest of any German chancellor, and the longest tenure for a democratically elected head of government in German history. It has been compared to the defeat of Winston Churchill in 1945--both were seen as wartime leaders, and in both cases both were turned out of office by the electorate once the war was over. It should be noted, however, that Churchill was ousted before World War II was even over, while Kohl managed to hang onto power for two more terms after the reunification of Germany (which is often considered to be the end of the Cold War).

References

* “Social Democrats win German elections.” Europe Oct. 1998 [http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/ LexisNexis Academic] . Leslie F. Maplass Library, Macomb, IL.
* [http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/e/index_e.htm The Federal Returning Officer]