First Michels government

The first Michels government (Michels I) was the 38th government of Brunant. It was led by Prime Minister Ines Michels from 5 August 1998 until 10 May 2002. The government was formed by a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Centre Democrats (CD) and the Green Party (GP).

Formation
Five months before the 1998 general election, which took place on 8 May 1998, incumbent Prime Minister and Christian Democratic Union leader Henry Jorgeson stepped down as the party's chairman and announced he did not seek re-election. He was succeeded as CDU leader by Minister of External Affairs John Martins.

The SDP became the largest party. Led by Ines Michels since 1997, the party won 29 seats in the House of Representatives. The CDU only won 23 seats, which was a loss of six seats. Two days after the election, Martins resigned as CDU leader and was succeeded by Alexander Rivier.

The formation was difficult; Michels hoped for a center-left coalition consisting of the SDP, the Centre Democrats an the newly-formed Green Party, but in parallel with her formation talks, the party leaders of the CDU and the Free Liberal Party also contacted CD leader Elisabeth Horst about a possible center-right coalition. The difficult collaboration between the CD and the GP was a problem for Michels, but after the allocation of a number of departments to the CD and a general insurance law reform, the government was formed after three months.

The Michels government was sworn in on 5 August 1998, taking the oath of office before King Marten II. It followed the second Jorgeson government.