1998 Philippine House of Representatives elections

Elections for the House of Representatives of the Philippines were held on May 11, 1998. Held on the same day as the presidential election, the party of the incumbent president, Fidel V. Ramos' Lakas–NUCD–UMDP, won majority of the seats in the House of Representatives. For the first time since the People Power Revolution, a party won majority of the seats in the House; Lakas had a seat over the majority. This is also the first Philippine elections that included the party-list system.
However, with Joseph Estrada of the opposition Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino, the NPC and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino ) winning the presidential election, the majority of the elected Lakas congressmen switched sides to LAMMP. This led to Manuel Villar, Jr. on being elected as the Speaker of the House.
The elected representatives served in the 11th Congress from 1998 to 2001.

Electoral system

The House of Representatives shall have not more than 250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law, of which 20% shall be elected via the party-list system, while the rest are elected via congressional districts. This is the first time that there shall be a party-list election, after the passage of the Party-List System Act.
In this election, there are 206 seats voted via first-past-the-post in single-member districts. Each province, and a city with a population of 250,000, is guaranteed a seat, with more populous provinces and cities divided into two or more districts.
Congress has the power of redistricting three years after each census.
As there are 206 congressional districts, there shall be 51 seats available under the party-list system. According to the Party-List System Act, party is initially guaranteed a seat for every 2% of the vote, for up to three maximum seats.

Redistricting

Reapportioning the number of seats is either via national reapportionment three years after the release of every census, or via piecemeal redistricting for every province or city. National reapportionment has not happened since the 1987 constitution took effect, and aside from piecemeal redistricting, the apportionment was based on the ordinance from the constitution, which was in turn based from the 1980 census.
Three new districts were created, with one from Makati, a new district from the division of Kalinga-Apayao, which became Apayao and Kalinga, and a new district from the division of Las Piñas–Muntinlupa district.

Changes from the outgoing Congress

Division of Makati's at-large district to two districts
* Makati attains cityhood, and its western barangays becomes the 1st district.
* The eastern barangays becomes the 2nd district.
* Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 7854.
* Approved in a plebiscite on February 4, 1995.
Division of Kalinga-Apayao and its at-large district to Apayao and Kalinga provinces
* Apayao becomes a province and its own at-large district.
* Kalinga becomes a province and its own at-large district.
* Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 7878.
* Approved in a plebiscite on May 8, 1995.
Division of Las Piñas–Muntinlupa's at-large district to two districts
* Muntinlupa attains cityhood and becomes its own at-large district.
* Las Piñas becomes its own at-large district.
* Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 7928.
* Approved in a plebiscite on May 8, 1995.

Results

Party-list election

There were 52 seats for sectoral representatives that were contested. Each party has to get 2% of the national vote to win one seat; they would win an additional seat for every 2% of the vote, up to the maximum three seats. Only 14 party-list representatives were elected under this rule, leaving 38 unfilled seats. Eventually, the "2–4–6%" rule was ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on October 6, 2000 on the case Veterans Federation Party, et. al. vs. COMELEC. Despite this ruling, no additional seats were awarded to any party-lists.