Hamburg state election, 2011

Hamburg state election, 2011
Hamburg
February 20, 2011[1]
All 121 seats of the Hamburg Parliament.
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 57.3
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Olaf Scholz Christoph Ahlhaus Anja Hajduk
Party SPD CDU Green
Seats won 62[2] 28[2] 14[2]
Seat change Increase17 Decrease28 Increase2
Popular vote 1,667,804 753,805 384,502
Percentage 48.4% 21.9% 11.2%
Swing Increase14.3% Decrease20.7% Increase1.6%
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Katja Suding Dora Heyenn
Party FDP Left
Seats won 9[2] 8[2]
Seat change Increase9 Steady
Popular vote 229,125 220,428
Percentage 6.7% 6.4%
Swing Increase1.9% Steady
Mayor before election

Christoph Ahlhaus
CDU

 Elected Mayor

Olaf Scholz
SPD

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On February 20, 2011, a state election was held in Hamburg, Germany, for the 20th legislative period of the Hamburg Parliament after World War II. The election is a result of the collapse of the coalition government led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Alternative List (GAL).[1] The Hamburg Parliament was officially dissolved on December 15, 2010.[1] The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won an absolute majority after winning 62 seats.[2] Absolute majorities are considered rare in Germany.[3] The Free Democratic Party (FDP) re-entered parliament after failing to win any seats in the previous election.[2]

Annkathrin Kammeyer's election made her the youngest member of the Hamburg Parliament in history, at 21 years of age.[4]

Collapse

The relationship between the Christian Democratic Union and the Green Alternative List has been strained since the former Mayor Ole von Beust announced he was stepping down in July.[1][5] Von Beust was a popular mayor and was seen as the guarantor for the coalition government.[5] The CDU/Green party coalition was the first coalition government between the two parties in Germany.[1][6] Christoph Ahlhaus was chosen as the mayor.[1] Since Ahlhaus became mayor, there were many conflicts which were intensifying.[1] Ahlhaus had been critical of the GAL on several occasions.[7]

Polls

Party Last
election		 11-02-2011[8] 13-02-2011[9]
  CDU 42.6% 23% 24%
  SPD 34.1% 46% 45%
  GAL 9.6% 14.5% 15%
  The Left 6.4% 6% 6%
  FDP 4.8% 5% 5%

Election results

Parties Votes % +/- Seats +/- %
Social Democratic Party 1,667,804 48.4% +14.3 62 +17 51.2%
Christian Democratic Union 753,805 21.9% -20.7 28 -28 23.1%
Green-Alternative List 384,502 11.2% +1.6 14 +2 11.6%
Free Democratic Party 229,125 6.7% +1.9 9 +9 7.4%
The Left 220,428 6.4% ±0.0 8 ±0 6.6%
Pirate Party Germany 73,126 2.1% +1.9 0 ±0
All Others 3.4% +1.1 0 ±0
Totals 3,444,602 100.0% – 121 –

Post-election

Post election analysis showed that the election result was strongly dominated by local issues (82% of voters according to Forschungsgruppe Wahlen).[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Hamburg vote set for February after coalition collapses". The Local. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Merkel's party hammered in state elections". Deutsche Welle. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Pidd, Helen (20 February 2011). "Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats suffer heavy Hamburg defeat". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Jule Bleyer (7 March 2011). "Annkathrin Kammeyer: Keck im Parlament" (in German). Hamburger Abendblatt. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Germany's only CDU-Green coalition falls". The Local. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "Greens in Hamburg end coalition with CDU". Deutsche Welle. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  7. ↑ Knight, Dennis (February 18, 2011). "Trend-Setting Loss Would Spell Trouble for Merkel". Spiegel Online. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Umfragen: SPD vorn, Ahlhaus enttäuscht" (in German). Hamburger Morgenpost. February 11, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  9. ↑ "SPD and Greens set for power in Hamburg". The Local. February 13, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  10. ↑ "SPD bei 48,3 Prozent - die CDU holt 21,9 Prozent". Hamburger Abendblatt. February 19, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2013.