State election in Saxony-Anhalt 2011
In the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt in 2011 on March 20, 2011, the 6th state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt was elected. It took place a week before the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg and the local elections in Hesse .
Election result
After the final result, the votes are distributed among the parties as follows:
| Political party | Second votes | Voting share | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | 323.019 | 32.5% | 41 | |
| THE LEFT | 235.011 | 23.7% | 29 | |
| SPD | 213,611 | 21.5% | 26th | |
| GREEN | 70,922 | 7.1% | 9 | |
| NPD | 45,826 | 4.6% | - | |
| FDP | 38.173 | 3.8% | - | |
| FREE VOTERS | 28.193 | 2.8% | - | |
| Animal welfare party | 15,724 | 1.6% | - | |
| PIRATES | 13,828 | 1.4% | - | |
| SPV | 3,722 | 0.4% | - | |
| MLPD | 2,321 | 0.2% | - | |
| KPD | 1,653 | 0.2% | - | |
| ÖDP | 1,499 | 0.2% | - | |
| number | percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible voters | 1,988,172 | 100.0% |
| Voters / turnout | 1,017,502 | 51.2% |
| invalid votes | 24,000 | 2.4% |
| valid votes | 993.502 | 97.6% |
Election analysis
The state elections did not result in any major changes in the three major parties CDU , Die Linke and SPD . The result was marked by the fact that, according to surveys, the majority of those eligible to vote had wanted the CDU-SPD coalition to continue after there had been a change of government after every state election. The CDU lost 3.7 percentage points, but remained clearly the strongest force with 32.5 percent. The voting shares of the Left and the SPD remained practically unchanged at 23.7 and 21.5 percent. The left became stronger than the SPD again. According to the SPD's coalition statement, however, a red-red alliance under a prime minister of the left was excluded.
The FDP lost significantly and withdrew from the Magdeburg state parliament with a result of 3.8 percent (-2.9). The Greens , on the other hand, doubled their share of the vote to 7.1 percent and thus returned to the state parliament for the first time since 1994. Election researchers saw the Greens' good performance above all in connection with the subject of energy policy , which had gained in importance after the nuclear accidents in Japan . Likewise, the losses of the CDU and FDP, which together amount to 6.6 percent, were attributed in particular to the fact that many voters considered the turnaround in the federal government's nuclear policy to be implausible .
The right-wing extremist NPD , which had focused its resources on the election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt, reached 4.6 percent from a standstill and thus failed to make it into the state parliament. If one takes into account, however, that the right-wing extremist DVU, which wanted to merge with the NPD, won 3.0% of the votes in the previous election and did not stand again, the gain in votes is only 1.6 percentage points. All parties that failed the five percent hurdle together make up 15.2 percent of the vote. Among these, in addition to the NPD and the FDP, the Free Voters (2.8 percent), the Animal Welfare Party ( 1.6 percent) and the Pirate Party (1.4 percent) passed the one percent hurdle, which is important for party funding .
The turnout increased significantly to 51.2 percent, after having been only 44.4 percent in the previous state election. In 2006, Saxony-Anhalt achieved the historically lowest turnout of all German state elections, while the 2011 election is the second-lowest result overall.
Starting position
After the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt in 2006 , the coalition of the CDU and FDP that had ruled until then was replaced by a CDU / SPD coalition led by the CDU under Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer . Prime Minister Böhmer, who has been in office since 2002, announced at an early stage that he would no longer be available for another legislative period. In March 2010, a CDU state party congress unanimously nominated the current Minister of Economic Affairs, Reiner Haseloff, as the top candidate for the state election. However, Böhmer remained in office until the election.
For the SPD, the previous Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Jens Bullerjahn ran as the top candidate. The left, as the second strongest force in the state parliament, entered the race with Wulf Gallert and hoped to find the first left-wing prime minister. In addition to these three parties, the FDP was also represented in the state parliament, which, according to the survey results, had to fear that it would be returned. The Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen party, which has not been represented in the state parliament since 1998 , achieved more than five percent of the vote in the 2009 European elections and in the 2009 federal election in Saxony-Anhalt and hoped to return to the state parliament. Until election day it was not certain whether the right-wing extremist NPD could move into the state parliament.
Parties
The following parties took part in the election:
| Political party | Abbreviation | 2006 result | Leading candidate | Number of members |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Union | CDU | 36.2% | Pure Haseloff | 8,370 |
| The left | THE LEFT | 24.1% | Wulf Gallert | 5,427 |
| Social Democratic Party of Germany | SPD | 21.4% | Jens Bullerjahn | 4.165 |
| Free Democratic Party | FDP | 6.7% | Veit Wolpert | 1,920 |
| Alliance 90 / The Greens | GREEN | 3.6% | Claudia Dalbert | 600 |
| Free voters | FREE VOTERS | (1) | Frank Stolzenberg | 6,000 |
| Communist Party of Germany | KPD | (2) | Siegfried Kutschick | 50 |
| Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany | MLPD | 0.5% | Monika Kuske | |
| National Democratic Party of Germany | NPD | - | Matthias Heyder | 260 |
| Ecological Democratic Party | ödp | (3) | Jens Rehmann | 64 |
| Human Environment Animal Welfare Party | Animal welfare party | (3) | Josef Fassl | 97 |
| Pirate Party Germany | PIRATES | - | Alexander Magnus | 200 |
| Sarazzi Party - for referendums SPV Atom-Stuttgart21 | SPV | - | Manfred Kriesel | 84 |
(1) 0.5% for the Federation of Citizens' Initiatives and Free Voters Saxony-Anhalt
(2) 0.1% for the list connection German Communist Party / Communist Party of Germany
(3) 0.8% for the list connection Graue Panther / ecological- Democratic Party / Animal Welfare Party
Parties that were previously not represented in the state parliament or with a member of the Bundestag elected in Saxony-Anhalt had to have collected at least 1,000 signatures by January 31, 2011 in support of their election proposals in order to be finally allowed to vote. The election proposal of the Alliance for Civil Rights-AfB was not allowed to vote. The DKP and the Republicans had announced their participation in the election, but then did not submit a national election proposal.
Election campaign
A special feature of the election campaign was the unusual situation that the current prime minister did not run and so none of the top candidates had a special official bonus. The CDU, SPD and the Left singled out their respective top candidates in the election campaign. The election campaign was described by the media as a "cuddle election campaign". The CDU and SPD each emphasized their previous cooperation in the CDU / SPD coalition. Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU) even appeared at an SPD event in the Mansfelder Land together with the SPD top candidate Bullerjahn. In the discussion about possible coalitions, the SPD did not rule out a joint government with the left, but rejected a left-wing prime minister. Since the SPD was initially well behind the Left Party in surveys and the latter insisted on the position of prime minister, a coalition other than the CDU / SPD was initially unlikely. All the more so as alliances such as CDU / FDP and SPD / Greens did not seem possible due to the polls. In the course of the election campaign, however, the polls of the Left Party fell, while those of the SPD rose, until shortly before the election both parties were roughly on par. This also changed the coalition options, as an SPD / Left alliance now appeared possible. The Greens showed their willingness to enter into a red-red-green alliance. The election campaign has now also gained a bit of heat between the CDU and SPD.
In spite of this, national issues were only slightly pointed during the election campaign. Education policy was discussed. The SPD, the Left and the Greens wanted a reform towards longer learning together. The CDU and FDP spoke out in favor of remaining with the previous education system. The Greens also addressed climate protection and the promotion of alternative energies, as well as positive effects on the labor market that were hoped for. The implementation of infrastructure projects such as the construction of the Saale Canal and the expansion of the Elbe was disputed between the parties . The CDU emphasized its work in the government and emphasized its experience and advocated continuation of the government. The question of the introduction of minimum wages was controversial between the SPD, Left Party and Greens on the one hand and the CDU and FDP on the other . Right-wing extremism was also discussed, particularly with regard to the NPD's polling figures , which had improved over the course of the election campaign and were 5% shortly before the election. The NPD, classified as right-wing extremist, tried to give itself a bourgeois image during the election campaign and carried out intensive billposting. Shortly before the election, the public prosecutor's office started investigations against the NPD top candidate Matthias Heyder . He was accused of giving instructions on building bombs in internal e-mails and forum posts under the pseudonym Junker Jörg on the Internet and of calling for the “desecration” of women belonging to the Left Party. The allegations were based on reports from an employee of the tagesschau.de editorial team , who had evaluated data from the NPD that had been leaked to him. An initiative by the Dessau direct candidates for the SPD and the Greens, who called for a vote splitting of the first vote of the SPD and the second of the Greens , caused irritation within the SPD .
The election campaign was overshadowed by national and international events. In the early phase of the election campaign, the events around Stuttgart 21 had an effect that initially helped the Greens in particular to achieve high poll numbers. At the turn of the year, the FDP came under pressure due to the discussion about demands for the resignation of its party chairman Guido Westerwelle . Before the election, she only achieved values below or up to 5% in surveys. For the Left Party, the debate about communism as a political goal, initiated by the federal chairman Gesine Lötzsch , proved difficult. The Saxony-Anhalt state association distanced itself from the goal of communism, with some left-wing politicians welcoming the discussion as positive. The plagiarism affair surrounding the Federal Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg also received a lot of attention . The introduction of the new E10 fuel, initiated by the CDU / FDP federal government, also led to discussions. A little over a week before the election, Japan suffered a major earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami , leading to a series of nuclear accidents at the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant . As a result, German nuclear and energy policy also became the subject of the state election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt. The day before the election, the international military operation began in Libya , so that the question of the German position on this and the justification for the use of military force were also discussed in the political debate.
Classic advertising material predominated in the election campaign media. A noticeable feature was the large-scale advertising on advertising pillars, which the pillar conspicuously designed as a tree, to which the Greens election posters were pinned. The parties also paid more attention to election campaigns on the Internet, using social networks and microblogging services such as Facebook and Twitter .
Local elections were held in several municipalities parallel to the state elections. In Magdeburg there was a referendum on the question of rebuilding the Ulrichskirche .
Survey
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Parties
In the run-up to the state elections, several opinion research institutes carried out representative polls of voting intent .
| Institute |
date |
CDU |
LEFT |
SPD |
FDP |
GREEN |
NPD |
Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research group elections | 03/11/2011 | 32% | 24% | 24% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Infratest dimap | 03/10/2011 | 33% | 25% | 24% | 4.5% | 5.5% | 5% | 3% |
| Emnid | 02/20/2011 | 31% | 27% | 22% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 3% |
| Infratest dimap | 02/17/2011 | 32% | 26% | 23% | 5% | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| Infratest dimap | 01/20/2011 | 32% | 28% | 22% | 4% | 8th % | 3% | 3% |
| Infratest dimap | 09/23/2010 | 30% | 30% | 21% | 5% | 9% | - | 5% |
| Emnid | 08/25/2010 | 30% | 27% | 22% | 5% | 7% | - | 9% |
| Infratest dimap | 03/17/2010 | 34% | 29% | 20% | 8th % | 5% | - | 4% |
Prime Minister
The question was also asked who would the Sachsen-Anhalter elected Prime Minister if they could elect him directly.
| Institute |
date |
Bullerjahn (SPD) |
Haseloff (CDU) |
Jelly (LEFT) |
another) |
I do not know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infratest dimap | 03/20/2011 | 46% | 36% | ? | ? | ? |
| Research group elections | 03/20/2011 | 32% | 29% | 11% | ? | ? |
| Research group elections | 03/11/2011 | 32% | 30% | 7% | 7% | 24% |
| Infratest dimap | 02/17/2011 | 27% | 24% | 10% | 14% | 25% |
| Infratest dimap | 01/20/2011 | 41% | 34% | ? | ? | ? |
Electoral process
Every eligible voter has two votes. With the first vote, the person who is to represent the respective constituency in the Magdeburg state parliament is elected ( direct mandate ). The second vote determines the composition of the state parliament according to party affiliation. A 5% clause applies . Only parties that achieve at least 5% of the second vote can move into the state parliament.
Elections are made in 45 constituencies . In addition, there is at least the same number of MPs on the state lists of the parties. However, this number can also be larger due to overhang mandates .
See also
Web links
- Election of the 6th state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt on March 20, 2011 on statistik.sachsen-anhalt.de
- Election atlas for the 2011 state elections in Saxony-Anhalt (SVG) , results of the 2011 and 2006 state elections, 2009 federal elections and structural data
Individual evidence
- ^ Election of the 6th State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt on March 20, 2011. State of Saxony-Anhalt as a whole, State Statistical Office of Saxony-Anhalt
- ↑ Publication of the Saxony-Anhalt State Returning Officer ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt
- ↑ Saxony-Anhalt State Statistical Office , accessed on March 31, 2011
- ↑ Financial Times Deutschland: Reiner Haseloff nominated as CDU top candidate ( memento of April 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) , March 21, 2010.
- ↑ a b Press release of the regional returning officer of February 4, 2011 (PDF; 32 kB) ( Memento of the original of January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Party portraits for the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt 2011 - The smaller parties ( Memento from March 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Left - Will to Power ( Memento from April 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d e f Party portraits for the state election - The smaller parties ( Memento from February 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: Why the little ones get really loud , March 15, 2011.
- ↑ Press release of the regional returning officer of January 28, 2011 (PDF; 33 kB) ( Memento of the original of January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ §§ 17, 15 WahlG of the state of Saxony-Anhalt (PDF; 292 kB)
- ↑ Florian Gathmann, fight of the cuddle candidates at Spiegel online
- ↑ https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/npdnazileak100.html Patrick Gensing, tagesschau.de of March 15, 2011: NPD in Saxony-Anhalt: "Junker Jörg" gives advice on bomb construction
- ↑ https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/tt2942.html Detailed report on the "Junker Jörg" suspicion against Matthias Heyder in the ARD Tagesthemen from March 16, 2011 (video)
- ↑ http://politbarometer.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0/0,1872,8219968,00.html?dr=1
- ^ ARD-DeutschlandTrend ( Memento from March 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d e f Election polls on the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt .
- ↑ Numbers and surveys on the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt ( Memento from March 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Surveys in Saxony-Anhalt
- ↑ http://www.mdr.de/
- ↑ State Statistical Office Saxony-Anhalt
