State election in Lower Saxony in 2008
The elections for the 16th Lower Saxony state parliament took place on January 27, 2008 , at the same time as the state elections in Hesse . Around 6.1 million eligible voters, including 258,000 people under the age of 21, were called on that day to appoint a new state parliament. Despite the loss of votes by the CDU, the black-yellow coalition under Prime Minister Christian Wulff retained the majority. The SPD achieved the worst election result it had ever achieved in Lower Saxony's state elections, whereas Alliance 90 / The Greens achieved their best up to then. With 7.1 percent of the vote, the Left Party - just like in the state elections in Hesse on the same day - managed to move into a state parliament in a western German state for the first time.
initial situation
Legal
A law passed on December 16, 2004, to reduce the number of constituencies from 100 to 87. Without overhang and compensatory mandates , the newly elected state parliament consisted of 135, instead of the previous 155 members.
State elections 2003
The last state elections in 2003 produced the following results:
| Political party | Share of second votes | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| CDU | 48.3% | 91 |
| SPD | 33.4% | 63 |
| FDP | 8.1% | 15th |
| GREEN | 7.6% | 14th |
| Schill | 1.0% | - |
| PDS | 0.5% | - |
| REP | 0.4% | - |
| GRAY | 0.3% | - |
| PBC | 0.2% | - |
| ödp | 0.1% | - |
Turnout: 67.0%
As a result, there was a change of government in Lower Saxony: A CDU / FDP coalition led by Christian Wulff replaced the previous SPD government from Sigmar Gabriel . The CDU lacked a seat with a sole absolute majority in the state parliament.
Survey
According to the last Sunday questions , the governing parties CDU and FDP had to accept slight losses of votes. According to all surveys, the continued existence of the coalition still appeared certain. The only exciting question was whether the Left Party could have moved into the Lower Saxony state parliament. If the left had not made it into parliament, however, it could even have been enough for an absolute majority in the CDU . In a direct election of the Prime Minister, CDU Prime Minister Christian Wulff would have been well ahead of his challenger Wolfgang Jüttner from the SPD.
| date | Institute | CDU | SPD | GREEN | FDP | LEFT | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 18, 2008 | Research group elections | 46% | 33% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 2% |
| January 17, 2008 | Infratest dimap | 44% | 34% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 3% |
| 07/01/2008 | Infratest dimap | 45% | 33% | 8th % | 7% | 3% | 5% |
| 05/01/2008 | Emnid | 45% | 32% | 9% | 8th % | 4% | 2% |
| 12/29/2007 | AMR Düsseldorf | 44% | 34% | 8th % | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| 07/12/2007 | Research group elections | 44% | 34% | 7% | 7% | 4% | 4% |
| 07/11/2007 | Infratest dimap | 44% | 33% | 9% | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| 10/23/2007 | Infratest dimap | 45% | 33% | 8th % | 6% | 5% | 3% |
| 10/18/2007 | Emnid | 45% | 31% | 10% | 7% | 7% | 3% |
| 09/06/2007 | Infratest dimap | 44% | 34% | 9% | 7% | 3% | 3% |
| 08/16/2007 | Forsa | 47% | 29% | 9% | 7% | 4% | 4% |
Candidacies
National election proposals
The following parties were admitted to the state election:
- Parties that are represented in the state parliament or with representatives from Lower Saxony in the Bundestag :
- Other parties who submitted 2000 supporter signatures for admission :
- From now on ... Alliance for Germany
- The Frisians
- The grays - gray panthers
- Family party of Germany
- Free voters Lower Saxony - citizens' initiatives, citizens lists and independent voter communities
- Human Environment Animal Welfare Party
- National Democratic Party of Germany
- Ecological Democratic Party
- Party of faithful Christians
The Democratic Alternative (Die Weisse), Die Republikaner , Die Violetten - for Spiritual Politics and the Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany had announced their candidacy to the regional returning officer, but did not submit a state list. The Pirate Party Germany was not able to submit the necessary supporter signatures on time.
District nominations
A total of 547 candidates stood for election in the 87 constituencies, including nine individual applicants . CDU, SPD, FDP and Bündnis 90 / The Greens were represented with a direct candidate in all constituencies, while for the Left, with the exception of Barsinghausen, there was a candidate in all constituencies. The Free Voters were represented in 49 constituencies, the NPD ran in 42 constituencies with direct candidates. The Frisians, the ödp and the PBC each ran with three, the whites with two, and the family party and the republicans with one district nomination each.
Demographics
The average age of the total of 747 applicants was 47 years old, with the youngest candidate being 18 and the oldest being 77 years old. 198 of all candidates were female, which made up a share of 26.5 percent.
Election campaign
In contrast to the state election in Hesse that took place on the same day, the election campaign in Lower Saxony was rather calm.
CDU
With 99.1 percent of the vote, Prime Minister Christian Wulff was elected to the top of the 113-seat state list on July 14, 2007 at the CDU state party conference in Hanover. The election manifesto of the CDU was decided on September 22nd. Under the motto Zukunftsland Lower Saxony , the CDU campaigned for the continuation of the black-yellow coalition and budget consolidation. The election campaign kicked off on January 12, 2008 in front of more than 9,000 participants in the Volkswagen Hall in Braunschweig . The election campaign of the CDU Lower Saxony was honored on December 5, 2008 in Berlin with the " Political Award" as the best campaign of the year in the category "Campaigns by political institutions".
SPD
Already on October 13, 2006, Wolfgang Jüttner , chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony state parliament and Lower Saxony's environment minister from 1998 to 2003, was unanimously nominated as a top candidate by the board of the Lower Saxony SPD. His election took place at the state party conference of the SPD in Hanover on June 30, 2007 with a result of 97.4 percent. On the same day the state list was elected and the draft of an election program was presented, which was adopted on November 10, 2007. In autumn 2007, Jüttner hired as Lower Saxony team designated shadow cabinet consisting of Gabriele Andretta , Heiner Bartling , Wolfgang Denia , Jochen Hahne , Renate Hendricks , Eva Högl , Uwe Schwarz and Petra Wassmann before. Compared to the last state election, the campaign budget was halved to 2.5 million euros. With slogans such as Lower Saxony justice and justice comes again , the SPD campaigned for the introduction of a minimum wage , free education and the expansion of comprehensive schools.
FDP
Philipp Rösler , state chairman and FDP parliamentary group leader in the Lower Saxony state parliament, was elected on July 8th at the state delegates' conference in Braunlage with 96 percent of the votes, making it number one on the state list and thus the top candidate of the FDP. The election campaign budget is said to have included 500,000 euros. The FDP relied on a second vote campaign and its state chairman Philipp Rösler as a popular figure .
GREEN
Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen went into the election campaign with the top candidates Ursula Helmhold and Stefan Wenzel . Both were at the state party conference of the Greens on 23/24. June in Hitzacker voted first and second on the state list. The election manifesto of the Greens was decided on October 14th. According to a press release, the national association was advised during the election campaign by the advertising agency M&C Saatchi . The election campaign costs are said to have amounted to 330,000 euros.
LEFT
For the first time in stepped Left Party and WASG forth came party Die Linke in a state election. The PDS had already stood as a candidate in the state elections in 2003, but with 0.5% it clearly failed because of the 5% hurdle. At the state party conference on November 3rd in Hanover, state chairman Kreszentia Flauger was elected to number one on the state list with 82.4 percent of the vote, making it the top candidate. According to the election program, the main focus of the election campaign was the fight against poverty by abolishing the Hartz Acts and introducing a minimum wage, free education and an end to the privatization of Lower Saxony institutions.
Other parties
- Accompanied by massive protests and a festival of democracy , the NPD began its election campaign on September 15 in the Hanover Congress Centrum . The NPD's top candidate was Andreas Molau .
- The Animal Welfare Party took part in a Lower Saxony state election for the first time . The top candidate was the hotel employee Rosemarie Worgull from Delmenhorst .
- The Frisian party also took part in a state election for the first time. She represents the Frisian national minority in Lower Saxony, her election campaign was therefore limited to constituencies 83, 84 and 86. A desired recognition of the minority status and thus the exemption from the five percent hurdle could not be achieved for the state election. The top candidate for the Frisians was the former SPD member Arno Rademacher .
- The top candidate for the Gray Panthers was the librarian Erika Lohe. The party advocated a fairer social system and in particular an increase in pensions.
- The goals of the family party were, among other things, the introduction of an education allowance , free schooling and free sports clubs for children and young people. The top candidate in the nine-place national list was secretary Claudia Chalupa.
- On September 8, 2007, the personnel developer Gunnar Frohn was elected to number one on the country list of the Party of Biblical Christians. The party's primary goal was to strengthen families.
- The top candidate of the party from now ... Alliance for Germany, party for democracy through referendum was the construction engineer Hans-Joachim Wohlfeld
- In addition to environmental and nature conservation, the ecological-democratic party campaigned for more direct democracy and free education in Lower Saxony. The top candidate was the banker Hartmut Meyer.
TV duel
On January 23, the met NDR Prime Minister Wulff and challenger Jüttner in one of Andreas Cichowicz moderated minute 60- TV-duel each other. While both sides then declared themselves the winners, the duel ended in a draw, according to the media. Although 30 percent of those questioned previously stated in a survey that the TV duel was very important or important for their voting decision, it was only followed by around 270,000 viewers, which corresponds to an audience rate of 8.1 percent. Before the actual duel, the top candidate Stefan Wenzel from the Greens met the top candidate of the FDP, Philipp Rösler .
Alleged election postponement
On January 26th, one day before the election, forged letters appeared in several districts of Hanover claiming that the election would be postponed to February 24th.
Result
First votes
The direct candidates of the CDU won 68 of the 87 constituencies, the remaining 19 districts went to the SPD. The clearest victory was achieved by Clemens Große Macke , CDU candidate in the constituency of Cloppenburg , with 70.4 percent of the first votes. Hans-Christian Biallas (CDU) achieved the closest result in the constituency of Cuxhaven . With 38.4 percent of the first votes, he received only 83 votes more than his opponent from the SPD.
Second votes
Percentage result
Distribution of seats
Allocation of seats and percentage result
| Political party | Share of second votes | Change from 2003 | best result | Worst result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolutely | in % | Seats | absolutely | in % | Seats | Constituency | in % | Constituency | in % | |
| CDU | 1,455,687 | 42.5 | 68 | −469.368 | −5.8 | −23 | WK 67 Cloppenburg | 66.6 | WK 26 Hannover-Linden | 24.9 |
| SPD | 1,035,894 | 30.3 | 48 | −259.188 | −1.6 | −15 | WK 85 Emden / North | 41.8 | WK 67 Cloppenburg | 15.6 |
| FDP | 279,557 | 8.2 | 13 | −43,550 | +0.1 | −2 | WK 20 Holzminden | 14.2 | WK 86 Aurich | 4.1 |
| GREEN | 273.934 | 8.0 | 12 | −30,598 | +0.4 | −2 | WK 17 Göttingen City | 21.1 | WK 67 Cloppenburg | 3.5 |
| The left | 243.106 | 7.1 | 11 | +221,546 | +6.6 | +11 | WK 26 Hannover-Linden | 13.3 | WK 68 Vechta | 3.1 |
| NPD | 52,817 | 1.5 | ||||||||
| Free voters | 17,932 | 0.5 | ||||||||
| The animal welfare party | 17.195 | 0.5 | WK 65 Delmenhorst | 1.1 | WK 73 Bersenbrück | 0.3 | ||||
| FAMILY | 13,316 | 0.4 | ||||||||
| The Frisians | 10,071 | 0.3 | WK 84 Leer / Borkum | 4.5 | ||||||
| GRAY | 9,275 | 0.3 | −1,449 | 0.0 | ||||||
| From now | 5,944 | 0.2 | ||||||||
| PBC | 5,812 | 0.2 | ||||||||
| ödp | 2.012 | 0.1 | WK 65 Delmenhorst | 0.4 | WK 81 Meppen | 0.0 | ||||
| voter turnout | 3,472,945 | 57.0 | -563,072 | -10.0 | WK 76 Georgsmarienhütte | 63.6 | WK 65 Delmenhorst | 49.5 | ||
The CDU received a total of eight overhang mandates. In return, the SPD received five, the FDP two and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and Die Linke each received a compensation mandate. This increased the total number of seats from 135 to 152.
See also
- State elections in Lower Saxony
- List of members of the Lower Saxony state parliament (16th electoral term)
Web links
- State Returning Officer Lower Saxony
- Complete list of all district and state election proposals (PDF file; 282 kB)
- Information on the state elections in 2008 at Norddeutscher Rundfunk
- Preliminary official final result of the Land Returning Officer
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Official final result of the state election on January 27, 2008 in Lower Saxony
- ↑ http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/landtage/niedersachsen.htm
- ↑ Country list of the CDU ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2015 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.
- ↑ Election program of the CDU ( 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.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 23, 2008 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.
- ↑ State list of the SPD (PDF; 32 kB)
- ↑ Government program of the SPD (PDF; 1.6 MB)
- ↑ a b Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 23, 2008 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.
- ↑ Country list of the FDP ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2007 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.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 23, 2008 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.
- ↑ http://gruene-niedersachsen.de/cms/default/dok/201/201164.gruene_stellen_erstes_motiv_zum_landtags.htm ( Memento from October 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://de.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071103/tde-flauger-linke-spitzenkandidatin-in-n-32ddaa5_1.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ haz.de: Peaceful mass protest against the NPD ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2008 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.
- ↑ http://www.rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/medienexperte-kein-gewinner-im-tv-duell-aid-1.2308595
- ↑ http://www.nwzonline.de/index_aktuelles_politik_ Background_artikel.php?id= 1569567
- ↑ "That's a fat dog". In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed March 13, 2018 .
