2008 Bavarian state election

2008 Bavarian state election
All 187 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria ; 94 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	10,612,275 (58.1%); 1.0%
	Results for the single-member constituencies.
Minister-President before election; Günther Beckstein ; CSU	Elected Minister-President ; Horst Seehofer ; CSU

Last updated October 08, 2024

The 2008 Bavarian state election was held on 28 September 2008 to elect the members of the Landtag of Bavaria. The result was a historic defeat for the Christian Social Union (CSU), which had governed with a majority uninterrupted since 1962, and had won over 60% of the vote in the 2003 election. Despite polling suggesting that the party would retain its majority with losses, it suffered a 17% swing and came up two seats short of a majority, its worst result since 1954. Minister-President and CSU leader Günther Beckstein subsequently resigned from both posts, and the Landtag elected Horst Seehofer as his successor after the CSU and Free Democratic Party (FDP) came to a coalition agreement.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 15th Landtag of Bavaria.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2003 result
Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	Votes (%)	Seats
	CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern	Christian democracy	Günther Beckstein	60.7%	124 / 180
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Franz Maget	19.6%	41 / 180
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Sepp Daxenberger	7.7%	15 / 180

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	CSU	SPD	Grüne	FW	FDP	Linke	ÖDP	Others	Lead
Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size								Others	Lead
2008 state election	28 Sep 2008	–	43.4	18.6	9.4	10.2	8.0	4.3	2.0	4.1^{[lower-alpha 1]}	24.8
GMS	20–21 Sep 2008	1,010	48	19	10	7	7	4	1	4^{[lower-alpha 2]}	29
Emnid	10–18 Sep 2008	1,010	49	20	8	7	8	5	–	3	29
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	16–18 Sep 2008	1,105	47	20	8	8	9	4	–	4	27
Infratest dimap	15–17 Sep 2008	1,000	47	21	9	7	8	4	–	4	26
Forsa	8–12 Sep 2008	1,101	50	19	9	8	6	4	–	4	31
GMS	6–8 Sep 2008	1,006	49	19	11	5	7	4	2	3^{[lower-alpha 3]}	30
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	28–30 Jul 2008	1,038	50	20	9	7	6	4	–	4	30
Infratest dimap	24–28 Jul 2008	1,000	48	22	9	5	8	4	–	4	26
Emnid	23 Jun–17 Jul 2008	~500	51	19	9	–	7	5	–	9^{[lower-alpha 4]}	32
TNS Infratest	3–8 Jul 2008	1,000	48	21	11	5	8	4	–	3	27
GMS	8–9 Jul 2008	1,006	50	20	8	4	5	5	2	6^{[lower-alpha 5]}	30
GMS	2–6 Jun 2008	1,009	49	20	9	5	5	5	2	5^{[lower-alpha 6]}	29
Infratest dimap	28–30 Apr 2008	1,000	48	23	10	5	6	4	–	4	25
mifm München	21–23 Apr 2008	1,000	44	20	11	9	9	3	–	4	24
mifm München	4–14 Apr 2008	1,001	40	19	12	11	11	4	–	3	21
GMS	8–14 Apr 2008	1,010	51	20	10	4	6	4	1	4	31
GMS	31 Mar–6 Apr 2008	1,512	50	21	10	4	5	4	–	6	29
Emnid	13–27 Feb 2008	~500	51	19	11	3	6	4	–	6	32
mifm München	31 Jan–7 Feb 2008	1,000	50	20	11	4	7	3	–	5	30
Infratest dimap	3–7 Jan 2008	1,000	52	21	10	2	6	3	–	6	31
Emnid	10 Dec 2007–2 Jan 2008	800	54	20	10	–	6	4	–	6	34
GMS	2–3 Jan 2008	1,004	56	21	9	3	4	3	1	3^{[lower-alpha 7]}	34
GMS	12–17 Dec 2007	1,010	55	20	9	4	5	3	–	4	35
Forsa	5–27 Nov 2007	1,002	56	17	9	3	4	4	–	7	39
mifm München	29 Oct–7 Nov 2007	1,000	53.8	19.1	9.9	1.7	7	3.2	–	5.3	34.7
GMS	21–22 Oct 2007	1,001	54	23	10	3	4	3	1	2^{[lower-alpha 8]}	31
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	24–26 Sep 2007	1,143	56	22	9	4	4	3	–	2	34
mifm München	7–15 Sep 2007	1,003	53	17	10	3	7	3	1.7	4.9^{[lower-alpha 9]}	36
Forsa	29 Aug–17 Sep 2007	1,003	57	19	9	2	4	3	–	6	38
Forsa	28–30 Jul 2007	1,002	58	17	9	3	4	3	–	6	41
TNS Infratest	17–19 Jul 2007	1,000	54	22	11	–	5	3	–	5	32
dimap	13–19 Jul 2007	1,000	58	18	11	–	4	4	–	5	40
GMS	13–18 Jun 2007	1,010	54	18	9	4	8	3	–	4	36
Forsa	4–14 Jun 2007	1,001	56	16	9	3	6	3	–	7	40
Forsa	25 Apr–8 May 2007	1,036	56	17	9	3	6	3	–	6	39
Forsa	19 Mar–2 Apr 2007	1,012	54	20	9	3	4	3	–	7	34
Infratest dimap	22–25 Mar 2007	1,002	53	23	10	2	6	2	–	4	30
GMS	5–8 Mar 2007	1,012	53	20	9	4	7	2	1	4^{[lower-alpha 10]}	33
Forsa	15–26 Feb 2007	1,002	53	19	9	3	6	3	–	7	34
GMS	22–25 Jan 2007	1,011	52	22	9	4	7	2	2	2^{[lower-alpha 11]}	30
Infratest dimap	19–20 Jan 2007	1,000	52	24	9	–	7	–	–	8	28
Infratest dimap	15 Jan 2007	1,000	50	24	11	–	8	–	–	7	26
Forsa	10–12 Jan 2007	1,007	49	22	9	3	6	4	–	7	27
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	12–13 Jan 2007	1,142	45	27	10	–	9	–	–	9	18
Infratest dimap	3–4 Jan 2007	1,000	54	22	9	–	7	–	–	8	32
Forsa	27–29 Dec 2006	1,009	54	18	9	3	5	4	–	7	36
GMS	18–23 Dec 2006	1,006	54	20	10	2	8	2	2	2^{[lower-alpha 12]}	34
Forsa	24 Nov–5 Dec 2006	1,026	56	17	10	2	5	4	–	6	39
Forsa	23 Oct–7 Nov 2006	1,004	54	19	9	2	7	3	–	6	35
GMS	6–8 Oct 2006	1,002	53	22	8	3	8	3	1	2^{[lower-alpha 13]}	31
Forsa	18 Sep–4 Oct 2006	1,006	54	18	9	2	8	3	–	6	36
Infratest dimap	28 Sep–1 Oct 2006	1,000	49	24	10	2	8	1	–	6	25
Forsa	20 Aug–5 Sep 2006	1,005	58	16	10	–	6	3	–	7	42
Forsa	3–12 Jul 2006	1,004	56	16	10	3	6	4	–	5	40
GMS	9–14 Jun 2006	1,002	54	18	11	2.0	8	2.5	–	4.5	36
Forsa	12–17 May 2006	1,002	52	18	9	3	10	3	–	5	34
Emnid	20 Apr–9 May 2006	1,000	53	23	9	–	5	–	–	10	30
Forsa	22–24 Feb 2006	1,003	52	21	9	4	6	3	–	5	31
Infratest dimap	12–15 Jan 2006	1,000	53	22	10	2	7	2^{[lower-alpha 14]}	–	4	31
Forsa	4–11 Jan 2006	1,114	49	24	10	–	6	3^{[lower-alpha 15]}	–	8^{[lower-alpha 16]}	25
Peinelt	17 Nov–9 Dec 2005	1,067	45.9	21.5	8.6	4.2	11.8	–	–	8.0^{[lower-alpha 17]}	24.4
GMS	17–21 Dec 2005	1,001	56	22	7	4	4	2	1	4^{[lower-alpha 18]}	34
Infratest dimap	15–16 Nov 2005	1,000	45	24	10	–	11	3	–	7	21
Forsa	4–7 Nov 2005	1,001	49	21	9	–	9	4	–	8^{[lower-alpha 19]}	28
Infratest dimap	21–24 Jul 2005	1,000	59	18	9	–	4	4	–	6	41
Infratest dimap	5–9 Jan 2005	1,000	56	22	10	–	5	–	–	7	34
Infratest dimap	21–25 Jul 2004	1,000	58	17	12	–	5	–	–	8	41
GMS	17–20 Mar 2004	1,009	61.0	19.0	10.0	1.5	3.0	0.5	2.0	3.0^{[lower-alpha 20]}	42
Infratest dimap	2–5 Jan 2004	1,000	62	19	9	–	3	–	–	7	43
2003 state election	21 Sep 2003	–	60.7	19.6	7.7	4.0	2.6	–	2.0	3.4^{[lower-alpha 21]}	41.1

Election result



Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	4,603,960	43.38	-17.3	92	-32
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	1,972,437	18.59	-1.0	39	-2
	Free Voters of Bavaria (FW)	1,085,896	10.23	+6.2	21	+21
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	999,111	9.41	+1.7	19	+4
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	847,227	7.98	+5.4	16	+16
	The Left (Linke)	461,755	4.35	New	0	New
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	212,200	2.00	–	0	±0
	The Republicans (REP)	146,073	1.38	-0.9	0	±0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	123,399	1.16	+1.2	0	±0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	116,464	1.10	+0.3	0	±0
	Pensioners' Party (RRP)	19,760	0.19	New	0	New
	The Violets (Violetten)	15,465	0.15	New	0	New
	Citizens' Bloc (BB)	7,306	0.07	–	0	±0
	Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo)	1,222	0.01	-0.1	0	±0
Total		10,612,275	100.00	–	187	–

Popular vote

CSU			43.38%
SPD			18.59%
FW			10.23%
B'90/GRÜNE			9.41%
FDP			7.98%
DIE LINKE			4.35%
Other			6.06%

Landtag seats

CSU			49.19%
SPD			20.86%
FW			11.23%
B'90/GRÜNE			10.16%
FDP			8.56%

Notes

↑ 1.4% REP, 2.7% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 3% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 2% Other
↑ 2% Right-wing parties, 7% Other
↑ 2% Right-wing parties, 4% Other
↑ 2% Right-wing parties, 3% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 2% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other
↑ 2.3% REP, 1.1% BP, 1.5% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 3% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other
↑ 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other
↑ WASG
↑ WASG
↑ 3% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
↑ 4.3% REP, 3.7% Other
↑ 2% Right-wing parties, 2% Other
↑ 3% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
↑ 1.0% REP, 2.0% Other
↑ 2.2% REP, 1.2% Other

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References

External links

Official results (in German)
Article by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German)

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] 1.4% REP, 2.7% Other

[2] 1% Right-wing parties, 3% Other

[3] 1% Right-wing parties, 2% Other

[4] 2% Right-wing parties, 7% Other

[5] 2% Right-wing parties, 4% Other

[6] 2% Right-wing parties, 3% Other

[7] 1% Right-wing parties, 2% Other

[8] 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other

[9] 2.3% REP, 1.1% BP, 1.5% Other

[10] 1% Right-wing parties, 3% Other

[11] 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other

[12] 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other

[13] 1% Right-wing parties, 1% Other

[14] WASG

[15] WASG

[16] 3% Right-wing parties, 5% Other

[17] 4.3% REP, 3.7% Other

[18] 2% Right-wing parties, 2% Other

[19] 3% Right-wing parties, 5% Other

[20] 1.0% REP, 2.0% Other

[21] 2.2% REP, 1.2% Other

[lower-alpha 1]

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[lower-alpha 4]

[lower-alpha 5]

[lower-alpha 6]

[lower-alpha 7]

[lower-alpha 8]

[lower-alpha 9]

[lower-alpha 10]

[lower-alpha 11]

[lower-alpha 12]

[lower-alpha 13]

[lower-alpha 14]

[lower-alpha 15]

[lower-alpha 16]

[lower-alpha 17]

[lower-alpha 18]

[lower-alpha 19]

[lower-alpha 20]

[lower-alpha 21]

v t e Elections and referendums in Bavaria
State elections	1818 1824 1830 1836 1839 1845 1848 1849 1855 1858 1863 1869 (May) 1869 (Nov) 1875 1881 1887 1893 1899 1905 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 1928 1932 1946 (Jun) 1946 (Dec) 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2003 2008 2013 2018 2023
Local elections	1946 1948 1952 1956 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2002 2008 2014 2020 2026
Referendums	1924 1946 1968 1970 1973 1984 1991 1995 1998 2003 2010 2013 2014 2019
See also: Elections and referendums in Germany