1998 Bromley London Borough Council election
Elections to Bromley Council in England were held on 7 May 1998. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.
Because the council fell into no overall control, for the first time in the London Borough of Bromley history it was taken over by a Liberal Democrat/Labour Coalition. This ended in 2001 when the Conservatives regained the council.
Background
Between the 1994 election and this election there were 2 by-elections to replace Councillors who resigned from their seats, one in Bickley and one in Kelsey Park. Neither of these elections resulted in a seat changing parties with Conservatives retaining both clips.There were no other defections or vacancies, so just before the election the composition of the council was as follows:
Election result
Turnout across the borough dropped to 40.8%, the lowest in the history of the council.Despite the Conservatives increasing their share of the vote at the expense of both Labour and Liberal Democrats, they still lost seats to the Liberal Democrats and with it, control of the council. Labour, despite losing votes and seats found themselves as part of the administration. For the first time, the Liberal Democrats had managed to get the first past the post voting system to work in their favour by winning a higher share of seats than share of vote.
After the election, the composition of the council was as follows:
Ward results
- Indicates an incumbent candidate- Indicates an incumbent candidate standing in a different ward