Politics of Lower Saxony

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The Lower Saxony Landtag in Hannover
The Lower Saxony Landtag in Hannover

The Politics of Lower Saxony takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Lower Saxony. Since 1948 politics in the state has been dominated by the rightist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party. Lower Saxony was one of the origins of the German environmentalist movement in reaction to the state government's support for underground nuclear waste disposal. This led to the formation of the German Green Party in 1980.

[edit] Minister-Presidents

Since the creation of the state in 1946, the state's Minister-Presidents have been:

Period Minister-President Party Coalition
1946 - 1955 Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf SPD
1955 - 1959 Heinrich Hellwege German Party
1959 - 1961 Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf SPD
1961 - 1970 Georg Diederichs SPD
1970 - 1976 Alfred Kubel SPD
1976 - 1990 Ernst Albrecht CDU
1990 - 1998 Gerhard Schröder SPD
1998 - 1999 Gerhard Glogowski SPD SPD
1999 - 2003 Sigmar Gabriel SPD SPD
since 2003 Christian Wulff CDU CDU-FDP

[edit] Election results

See also: Lower Saxony state election, 2003
See also: Lower Saxony state election, 2008

In the most recent state election, the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) held on to its position as the leading party in the state, despite losing votes and seats. The CDU's coalition with the Free Democratic Party retained its majority although it was cut from 29 to 10.

The election saw the entry into the state parliament for the first time of the leftist The Left party.

Party Votes (%) Votes (% change) Seats Seats (change)
CDU 42.5 % -5.8% 68 -23
SPD 30.3 % -4.1% 48 -15
FDP 8.2 % +0.1% 13 -2
Alliance '90/The Greens 8.0 % +0.4% 12 -2
The Left 7.1 % +7.1% 11 +11
others 3.9% +2.4% - -
TOTAL 100.0% - 152 -31

[edit] See also