Vyvlander general election, 1998

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Flag of Vyvland
7th general election in Vyvland
Previous election
1996
Next election
2002
All 580 seats in Parliament
291+ seats needed for a majority
30th April 1998
Robin Cook-close crop.jpg Waldemar Pawlak candidate 2010 D crop.jpg KimCampbell.jpg
Party KDC Socialists Liberals
Leader Rikard Fegaad Mafjas Skenterby Jesika Snoifer
Seat Sjyr Vlud (province) Mafiy-6
Share 37.7% Increase 21.0% Decrease 16.9% Decrease
Seats 207 (36.4%) (Increase 76) 123 (21.7%) (Decrease 21) 106 (18.7%) (Decrease 18)
Previous Prime Minister
Mafjas Skenterby
Socialist-Green-Liberal coalition
Resulting Prime Minister
Rikard Fegaad
KDC-National-Monarchist
coalition

A general election was held in Vyvland for the country's Parliament on the 30th April 1998. The election resulted in a coalition government under Prime Minister Rikard Fegaad between the Christian Democratic and Conservative Party, who had won the most seats ever at a general election since Vyvlander reunification, the National Party and the minor Monarchist Party. For the latter two parties, the following term was their only spell in government. Fegaad's government unseated that of Mafjas Skenterby, which had been in office since the previous general election in 1996. The election also coincided with a presidential election, which was also won by KDC.

The election was held after a the resignation of a very unstable coalition government between the Socialist, Green and Liberal parties, who had attempts at imposing their policies hindered by the obstructionist President at the time, Erik Menjreng, who was of the opposing Conservatives. The two-year-long government was infamously inactive in terms of policy-making because Menjreng, as President, held veto power over new laws being passed. While his predecessor, Enrig Dalder, had been relatively accommodating of governments passing bills to which his party was opposed, Menjreng became widely unpopular due to his extensive use of the veto.

The government and Menjreng both resigned in February, leading the way to general and presidential elections. KDC leader Fegaad teamed up with the initially relatively unknown Lurs Anterbiden, former editor of newspaper de Kronikel, for the party's presidential candidate. The two presented a strong campaign which highlighted the weaknesses of the Socialists and Liberals, and by late February, Anterbiden had been confirmed by his party as their presidential candidate due to Fegaad's endorsement. The unity between the pair was instrumental to their eventual success in the campaign, especially when compared with Skenterby and Sabine Hulvhartsen, the Socialist presidential candidate, who often disagreed on key issues. In addition, the two other party leaders were in weak positions; both Skenterby and Liberal leader Jesika Snoifer had been active participants in the previous government (Prime Minister and Domestic Minister respectively), and thus were unable to distance themselves from the calamitous previous government. Snoifer was already viewed with unconfidence by her party well before the election; she would go on to resign six weeks after the election.

Polling support for Fegaad continued to rise, to the detriment of the vast majority of other parties, especially the right-wing National Party, which lost three-tenths of its seats. Many polls showed support for the Conservatives of over 40%, although the election day returned a smaller 37.7% of the vote, with 36.4% of the seats. This high percentage ensured that KDC would be able to maintain a strong government for the majority of its term, and it could avoid the necessity to go into coalition with the Liberals, which would have limited its opportunity to pass right-wing policies. KDC also went into coalition with the Monarchist Party, although they were later dropped in favour of the regionalist Helish Union and Christian Democrats of Helland, both of which are only active in Helland province. Very soon after the election, the government passed laws severely restricting the power of the President, limiting the potential for the pre-election disputes recurring.

On the evening news on the day of the election, VNB political editor Tomas Sabengen declared vehement support for KDC, which is both contrary to the public broadcaster's rules and contrary to the law on election day, which stipulates that all news outlets must give "balanced, moderated and impartial" coverage of the election while polls are open. The declaration prompted calls for a recall election following Fegaad's win, although this was not enacted upon. Sabengen was fired shortly after the incident.