State election in Hesse 1995
The elections to the 14th Hessian Landtag took place on February 19, 1995 and in one constituency on March 5, 1995. At the same time as the state elections, a referendum ( compulsory referendum ) was held to accept the lowering of the passive voting age, which was rejected by the majority of those who voted. In the state elections, the CDU was the strongest party, but the ruling coalition of the SPD and Greens was confirmed.
initial situation
In the previous state elections in 1991 , the SPD and the Greens won a very narrow majority of seats. This allowed Walter Wallmann not repeat his surprise victory in the 1987 election. The very close outcome of the election was followed by the formation of a government from a red-green coalition. On April 5, the previous Lord Mayor of Kassel , Hans Eichel (SPD), was elected as the new Prime Minister .
The state election on January 20, 1991 brought the following result:
| Political party | Voting share | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| SPD | 40.8% | 46 |
| CDU | 40.2% | 46 |
| GREEN | 8.8% | 10 |
| FDP | 7.4% | 8th |
The pre-election polls predicted confirmation from the Red-Green coalition. 65% of those questioned assumed that the SPD or Red-Green would win the election.
Top candidates
The SPD ran with Prime Minister Hans Eichel as the top candidate. The opposing candidate of the CDU was Federal Interior Minister Manfred Kanther . The Greens went into the election campaign with a dual leadership. Iris Blaul and Rupert von Plottnitz headed the Green List. Ruth Wagner was the top candidate for the FDP .
Official end result
The state election on February 19, 1995 and the by-election on March 5, 1995 produced the following results:
| Constituency votes | National votes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| agree completely |
% | Electoral kreisbe- tors |
Direct MAN date |
agree completely |
% | Seats | |
| Eligible voters | 4,275,027 | 4,275,027 | |||||
| Voters | 2,833,029 | 66.27 | 2,833,029 | 66.27 | |||
| Valid votes | 2,757,304 | 97.33 | 2,768,821 | 97.73 | |||
| CDU | 1,154,821 | 41.88 | 55 | 30th | 1,084,146 | 39.16 | 45 |
| SPD | 1,121,943 | 40.69 | 55 | 25th | 1,051,452 | 37.97 | 44 |
| GREEN | 264.117 | 9.58 | 55 | 309,897 | 11.19 | 13 | |
| FDP | 129,745 | 4.71 | 55 | 206.173 | 7.45 | 8th | |
| REP | 47,254 | 1.71 | 41 | 54,775 | 1.98 | ||
| GRAY | 4,705 | 0.17 | 11 | 10,788 | 0.39 | ||
| BFB | 4,350 | 0.16 | 8th | 8,570 | 0.31 | ||
| NPD | 9,543 | 0.35 | 38 | 7,795 | 0.28 | ||
| PBC | 4,397 | 0.16 | 18th | 6,780 | 0.24 | ||
| APD | 932 | 0.03 | 2 | 6,666 | 0.24 | ||
| ÖDP | 3,521 | 0.13 | 14th | 5,248 | 0.19 | ||
| INSTEAD OF | 5,015 | 0.18 | 21st | 5,227 | 0.19 | ||
| Natural law | 3,909 | 0.14 | 17th | 4,522 | 0.16 | ||
| DKP | 1,261 | 0.05 | 6th | 3,291 | 0.12 | ||
| f.NEP | 369 | 0.01 | 1 | 2,199 | 0.08 | ||
| DHP | 306 | 0.01 | 2 | 808 | 0.03 | ||
| BüSo | 557 | 0.02 | 8th | 484 | 0.02 | ||
| CM | 119 | 0.00 | 1 | - | |||
| PASSPORT | 39 | 0.00 | 1 | - | |||
| Individual applicants | 401 | 0.01 | 4th | - | |||
| Total | 2,757,304 | 100 | 413 | 55 | 2,768,821 | 100 | 110 |
The state election in constituency 55 Bergstrasse II took place two weeks after the regular date. The reason for this was the death of the candidate Doris Wodrinski (Republican) for the direct mandate.
Although the CDU emerged from the election as the strongest party with 39.2% - which was its worst result since 1966 at the time - the red-green state government was confirmed in office. The SPD achieved its worst result in this country to date with 38.0%, while the GRÜNEN achieved its best in Hesse with 11.2%. Therefore, the previous red-green coalition with Prime Minister Hans Eichel could be continued. The incumbent had thus prevailed against his challenger, the CDU top candidate and Federal Interior Minister Manfred Kanther. It was the first election in Germany in which a red-green coalition was approved by voters.
Election analysis
According to analyzes by the Elections Research Group, the result of the elections was primarily due to issues of state politics. According to the poll of the research group on the election day, voters gave the CDU the highest level of competence in the field of economic and security policy. This was also true even though 45% of the respondents saw the economic situation in the red-green governed Hesse better than in the black-yellow governed federal government and only 12% could see a worse situation in Hessen.
More decisive for the choice, however, were the asked SPD competence advantages in the fight against unemployment and the topic of environmental protection and school policy.
This election was also shaped by the familiar pattern that the governing parties in the federal government suffered defeat in state elections.
assessment
The election result was generally interpreted less as a memorandum for the Kohl Federal Government than as a regional event. However, the result of the Hessen election should anticipate that of the Bundestag election.
Referendum
At the same time as the election, a referendum was held to amend Article 75 of the state constitution to lower the passive voting age from 21 to 18 years, but this was rejected by the majority of the voters. The referendum of 1995 is thus the only rejected mandatory referendum in the history of Hesse. Until the referendums in Hessen in 2018, Hesse was the only federal state in which the passive voting age had not yet been lowered to 18 years.
| template | Participation (absolute) | Participation (in%) | "Yes" votes (absolute) | "Yes" votes (in%) | "No" votes (absolute) | "No" votes (in%) | Invalid (absolute) | Invalid (in%) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowering the passive voting age | 2,813,285 | 65.81% | 987.002 | 35.08% | 1,660,424 | 59.02% | 165.859 | 5.90% |
|
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ State elections in Hesse 1946–2009. Hessian State Statistical Office
- ↑ State Gazette for the State of Hesse , No. 12/1995, p. 961 ff.
- ↑ Printed matter 18/5510 of the Hessian State Parliament of May 30, 2012
- ↑ Analysis of the research group Wahlen ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2006 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. (PDF)
- ↑ Official information ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the State Returning Officer on all referendums in Hesse (PDF).
