Basque regional election, 1998

Basque regional election, 1998

← 1994 25 October 1998 2001 →
All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,821,608 4.1%
Turnout	1,275,008 (70.0%) 10.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan José Ibarretxe Carlos Iturgaiz Arnaldo Otegi Party EAJ/PNV PP EH Leader since 31 January 1998 5 October 1996 14 February 1998 Leader's seat Álava Biscay Gipuzkoa Last election 22 seats, 29.3% 11 seats, 14.2% 11 seats, 16.0% Seats won 21 16 14 Seat change 1 5 3 Popular vote 350,322 251,743 224,001 Percentage 27.6% 19.9% 17.7% Swing 1.7 pp 5.7 pp 1.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Nicolás Redondo Carlos Garaikoetxea Javier Madrazo Party PSE–EE (PSOE) EA EB–IU Leader since 20 October 1997 4 September 1986 14 May 1994 Leader's seat Biscay Gipuzkoa Biscay Last election 12 seats, 16.8% 8 seats, 10.1% 6 seats, 9.0% Seats won 14 6 2 Seat change 2 2 4 Popular vote 220,052 108,635 71,064 Percentage 17.4% 8.6% 5.6% Swing 0.6 pp 1.5 pp 3.4 pp
Constituency results map for the Basque Parliament
Lehendakari before election José Antonio Ardanza EAJ/PNV Elected Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe EAJ/PNV

José Antonio Ardanza
EAJ/PNV

Juan José Ibarretxe
EAJ/PNV

The 1998 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 25 October 1998, to elect the 6th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 21 seats, the People's Party (PP) came second for the first time with 16 seats, the Basque Citizens (EH) coalition and the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE) won 14 seats each.

The Basque Parliament was elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation. Under the regional Statute of Autonomy, all three Basque historical territories—the provinces—were to constitute multi-member districts, being assigned an equal number of seats each. The electoral law set this to a fixed-number of 25, for a total of 75 seats. A threshold of 5% of valid votes—which included blank ballots—was applied in each constituency, with parties not reaching the threshold not taken into consideration for seat distribution.

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all residents over eighteen and in the full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. Concurrently, residents meeting the previous criteria and not involved in any cause of ineligibility were eligible for the Parliament. Groups of electors were required to obtain the signatures of at least 1% of registered electors in a particular district in order to be able to field candidates.