Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2011

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2011
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
4 September 2011
All 71 seats of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
36 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Erwin Sellering Lorenz Caffier Helmut Holter
Party SPD CDU Left
Last election 16.8%
Seats before 13
Seats won 28 18 14
Seat change +5 –4 +1
Percentage 35.7 23.1 18.4
Swing +5.5 –5.7 +1.6
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Silke Gajek Udo Pastörs Gino Leonhard
Party Green NPD FDP
Last election 7.3% 9.6%
Seats before 0 6 7
Seats won 6 5 0
Seat change +6 –1 –7
Percentage 8.4 6.0 2.7%
Swing +5.0 –1.3% –6.9%
Minister-President before election

Erwin Sellering
SPD

 Minister-President designate

Erwin Sellering
SPD

The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election was conducted on 4 September 2011,[1] to elect members to the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania). The State Landtag was controlled by a grand coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union prior to the election.

Fifty-two percent of the 1.4 million eligible voters turned-out which is a decrease of 7 percent.[2] The state election for the electoral district of Rügen is delayed until 18 September due to the death of the Christian Democrat candidate.[2]

The SPD was the clear winner of election with 35.7 percent of the votes. It increased 5.5 percentage points over the last election in 2006. The CDU support fell by 5.7 percent, ending up with 23.1 percent.

Issues and campaign

Christian Democratic Union

The Christian Democrats 30-page election platform was called "clear and decisive".[3] The platform includes education policy, finances and population change.[4]

The Christian Democrats campaigned with the slogan "C wie Zukunft" ("C for Future"). This was intended to link the first letter of both the party's and the frontrunner Lorenz Caffier's name with the positive term "future". However, recipients understood that the CDU suggested to write the word "Zukunft" with a "C". This earned the conservative scorn and derision.[5][6]

Social Democratic Party

Social Democrats focused on issues of economy, labor, energy change, social justice, family and education.[7]

In the government SPD plans same time to cancel the tax release of the hotels and restaurants with a value of 1.7 billion euros, collect 2 billion euros by the higher peak tax and further 1.7 billion euros by increase of the nuclear plant fuel tax.[8]

The Left

The Left platform includes employment and economic rights, social justice, environmental protection and more democratic participation.

Results

 Summary of the preliminary 4 September 2011 election results for the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (without the constituency of Rügen)
Party Ideology Proportional
votes		 Vote % (change) Seats (change) % of seats
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Social democracy 239 745 35.7 + 5.5 28 + 5 39.4
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian democracy 155 084 23.1 – 5.7 18 – 4 25.4
The Left (formerly The Left Party.PDS) Democratic socialism 123 502 18.4 + 1.6 14 + 1 19.7
Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen) Green politics 56 438 8.4 + 5.0 6 + 6 8.5
National Democratic Party (NPD) German nationalism 40 075 6.0 – 1.3 5 – 1 7.0
Free Democratic Party (FDP) Classical liberalism 18 428 2.7 – 6.9 0 – 7 0
Others 37 609 5.6 + 1.8 0 ±0 0
Total valid votes 670 881 100.0%   71 ± 0 100.0%

Source: Elections administrator of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Post-election

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) were the clear winners of election with 35.7 percent of the votes. It increased 5.5 percentage points over the last election in 2006. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) support fell by 5.7 percent, ending up with 23.1 percent.[9] The Free Democratic Party (FDP) got only 2.7 percent of the vote, a massive drop of 6.9 percent compared to the last election, when it received 9.6 percent.[10] The FDP failed to qualify for the Landtag for the fifth time in the last six state elections.[11] The FDP Chairman Philipp Rösler claimed responsibility for failing to qualify for the Landtag.[12] The Green Party reached the 5% minimum and qualified for the first time in Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[11] The Greens have now seats in all of Germany's 16 state parliaments.[10]

The far right National Democratic Party (NPD) won in excess of 30% of the votes in 2 of the districts in this election and 26% to 29% in some communities near Anklam and Torgelow.[13] In Koblentz, the NPD finished 15% higher than the CDU and the SPD.[13] Leaders of some of the parties have come out and stated their opposition and shock at the success of the NPD. Rösler also stated that "it is shocking that the right-wing NPD has received twice as many votes as the FDP".[12] SPD leader Erwin Sellering wasn't happy about the NPD re-entering the Landtag and stated "It’s a shame that they’ve made it in again and very regrettable".[14]

The governing grand coalition between the SPD and CDU retained its majority and thus continued to work together.

References

  1. ↑ "SPD and Greens set for power in Hamburg". The Local. February 13, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kimball, Spencer (4 September 2011). "Merkel's conservatives slip in local elections while opposition gains steam". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  3. ↑ "CDU: "Klar und entschlossen" in den Wahlkampf". NDR.de. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "Caffier will in Staatskanzlei". Norddeutsche Neueste Nachrichten. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  5. ↑ ""C wie Zukunft" – CDU wird für Wahlp lakat veräppelt", Der Spiegel (in German), 26 July 2011, retrieved 16 Aug 2011
  6. ↑ "C wie Zukunft", Die Welt (in German), 27 July 2011, retrieved 16 Aug 2011
  7. ↑ "Sellering erwartungsgemäß Spitzenkandidat". NRD.de (in German). 14 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "SPD plant massive Steuererhöhungen". Der Spiegel (in German). 4 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  9. ↑ Smith, David Gordon (5 September 2011). "'Germany's Social Democrats Are Back'". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Merkel's CDU Suffers Setback in State Election". Der Spiegel. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "'Something is deeply wrong when the NPD is more successful than the FDP'". The Local. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Schuld sind nur die regionalen Themen". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Wo ein Drittel der Wähler für die NPD stimmt". Die Welt (in German). 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  14. ↑ Fox, Holly (5 September 2011). "Far-right party strengthening its influence in eastern Germany". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 6 September 2011.