Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2002

The Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2002, was conducted on April 21, 2002, to elect members to the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt.

Issues and Campaign

The state was at the time of the election the "poorest" state of Germany and had the highest rate of unemployment. The campaign was influenced by the already started campaigns for the Bundestag elections in September. The Deutsche Volksunion, who had had a great success in 1998, did not run at all, after suffering inner trouble which had ended in the secession of the so-called Freedom and Democracy People's Party (FDVP).

Results

Summary of the 21 April 2002 Saxony-Anhalt state diet (Landtag) election results
Parties Votes Vote % (change) Seats (change) Seat % (change)
Christian Democratic Union 433,521 37.3 +15.3 48 +20 41.7 +17.6
Party of Democratic Socialism 236,484 20.4 +0.7 25 - 21.7 +0.15
Social Democratic Party of Germany 231,732 20.0 -15.9 25 -22 21.7 -18.8
Free Democratic Party 154,145 13.3 +9.0 17 +17 14.8 +14.8
Law and Order Offensive Party 52,589 4.5 +4.5 0 - 0 -
Alliance '90/The Greens 22,696 2.0 -1.3 0 - 0 -
German People's Union x 0.0 -12.9 0 -16 0 -13.8
All Others 29,818 2.6 +0.4 0 - 0 -
Totals 1,160,985 100 - 115 -1 100 -
Seat results -- SDP in red, PDS in purple, CDU in black, FDP in yellow, DVU in brown

Post-election

The right-wing-populist Law and Order Offensive Party, after its success in Hamburg, did not manage to gain seats in another Landtag. The PDS-backed SPD government no longer had enough seats to remain in power, and Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU) was able to form a new government in coalition with the FDP, which had an extraordinary victory (13% from less than 5% in 1998).

Following the unexpected victory for the FDP, the party leader Guido Westerwelle declared his party a "party for the whole people". The FDP nominated him "candidate for chancellor". It was the first time that the party did so. ("Candidates for chancellor" are normally nominated by CDU/CSU and SPD, and the campaign of the FDP was widely not taken seriously.)

Five months before the Bundestag election, the result was a major defeat for the red-green government of Gerhard Schröder and weakened its standing in the Bundesrat.

Sources

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