Hessian state election, 2009

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Hesse state election, 2009
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All 118 seats of the Landtag of Hesse
60 seats needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
  Roland Koch 03.jpg Thorsten schaefer guembel 2008.jpg JoergUweHahn CRW1767.jpg
Leader Roland Koch Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel Jörg-Uwe Hahn
Party CDU SPD FDP
Last election 36.8% 36.7% 9.4%
Seats before 42 42 11
Seats won 46 29 20
Seat changeIncrease2.svg4Decrease2.svg13Increase2.svg 9
Percentage 37.2% 23.7% 16.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg0.4%Decrease2.svg13.0%Increase2.svg6.8%
  Fourth party Fifth party
  Tarek Al-Wazir.jpg Willi-van-Ooyen.jpg
Leader Tarek Al-Wazir Willi van Ooyen
Party Green Left
Last election 7.5% 5.1%
Seats before 9 6
Seats won 17 6
Seat changeIncrease2.svg8 -
Percentage 13.7% 5.4%
SwingIncrease2.svg6.2%Increase2.svg0.3%
Minister-President before election

Roland Koch
CDU

Elected Minister-President

Roland Koch
CDU

Early state elections for the Landtag of Hesse were held in Hesse on 18 January 2009. The reason for the early elections was the inability of the parties to form a government after the inconclusive 2008 Hessian election.

Landtag of Hesse legislature of the state of Hesse, Germany

The Landtag of Hesse is the Parliament of the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany. It convenes in the Stadtschloss, Wiesbaden. As a Legislature it is responsible for passing laws at the state level and enacting the budget. Its most important function is to elect and control the state government. The constitution of the State of Hesse describes the role of the Landtag in §§ 75 to 99.

Hesse State in Germany

Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a federal state (Land) of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden; the largest city is Frankfurt am Main.

Contents

Issues and background

Hesse had been in the midst of political deadlock since January 2008, as a new government was still not formed by the Fall of 2008. The reason that ideologically-allied parties could not form a government was the existence of a bloc of far-left Linke party delegates in the Landtag. The CDU/FDP did not have a majority, nor did the SPD/Greens. Both the Linke party and the Greens pushed hard for a "red-green-red" (SPD-Greens-Linke) coalition, but the SPD initially refused this. The only other option was a grand coalition along the model in the Bundestag after the 2005 election, but this was also very unpopular. [1]

Linke is a German surname deriving from the German word meaning "left". It can refer to:

A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are two dominant parties with different ideological orientations, and a number of smaller parties that have passed the election threshold to secure representation in the parliament. The two large parties will each try to secure enough seats in any election to have a majority government alone, and if this fails each will attempt to form a coalition with smaller parties that have a similar ideological orientation. Because the two large parties will tend to differ on major ideological issues, and portray themselves as rivals, or even sometimes enemies, they will usually find it more difficult to agree on a common direction for a combined government with each other than with smaller parties.

SPD leader Andrea Ypsilanti finally gave in and attempted to negotiate with the Linke party to form a red-green-red coalition, reneging on a promise she had made earlier in the year to never negotiate with the far-left. [2] This action caused an internal revolt among Hesse's SPD Landtag members, resulting in Ypsilanti being cast out as leader and new elections being called. [3]

Andrea Ypsilanti German politician

Andrea Ypsilanti is a German politician.

This election became in effect a referendum on the SPD; although the CDU remained unpopular, the SPD was now much less popular after recent events.

Roland Koch, the CDU party leader in Hesse and minister-president of Hesse before the 2008 elections, also acted as interim minister-president until 31 August 2010. And so even though the CDU had suffered a stinging electoral defeat in 2008, Roland Koch had not been unseated due to the inability of the SPD to form a new government.

Roland Koch German politician

Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the CDU. He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on 31 August 2010. During his time in office, Koch was widely regarded as one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's main rivals within the CDU.

The candidates for the office of minister-president in 2009 were the incumbent Roland Koch of the CDU; the new Hesse SPD party leader, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel; Tarek Al-Wazir for the Greens; Jörg-Uwe Hahn for the FDP; and Willi van Ooyen for the Linke.

Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel German politician

Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel is a German politician of the SPD.

Tarek Al-Wazir German politician

Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been deputy to the Hessian prime minister Volker Bouffier, and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development. He is a member of the Landtag of Hesse and was co-chair of the Hessian Green Party.

Jörg-Uwe Hahn German politician

Jörg-Uwe Hahn is a German politician of the FDP.

Outcome

Results Wahlergebnis Hessen 2009 Zweitstimmen.svg
Results

Popular anger at the SPD over the political crisis and deadlock, and anger among some of its centrist supporters that the SPD leadership would negotiate with the far-left, led to a collapse in the SPD's support; [4] it received its lowest vote share in Hessian history. The SPD won less than 25% of the total seats in 2009, down from 38% in 2008. The former-SPD voters split evenly between the FDP and the Greens. The Greens received their highest vote share ever as a result of this.

The 2008-2009 Hesse Landtag saga is seen as a black eye and an embarrassment for the political left in Germany. Despite the CDU's weakest support in decades, the left bungled its opportunity to unseat the CDU, which now remained in power. A CDU-FDP government was formed after the election.

e  •  d  Summary of the 18 January 2009 election results for the Landtag of Hesse
Party Ideology Vote % (change) Seats (change) Seat %
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian Democracy 37.2% +0.4% 46 +4 39.0%
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Social Democracy 23.7% −13.0% 29 −13 24.6%
Free Democratic Party (FDP) Classical liberalism 16.2% +6.8% 20 +9 17.0%
Alliance '90/The Greens (GRÜNE) Green politics 13.7% +6.2% 17 +8 14.4%
The Left (Die Linke) Democratic socialism 5.4% +0.3% 6 0 5.1%
Free Voters (FW) Various, lean right 1.6% +0.7%
National Democratic Party (NPD) Ethnic nationalism 0.9% 0
The Republicans (REP) National conservatism 0.6% −0.4%
Pirate Party (PIRATEN) Pirate politics 0.5% +0.2%
Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo) LaRouche movement 0.2% +0.2%
All Others -- 0% −1.4%
Total 100.0%  118 +8 100.0%

Turnout was at 61.0%, down from 64.3% in 2008. 61.0% marks the lowest turnout for a Landtag election in Hesse's history. Only the non-binding 1946 election (while Hesse was still under military occupation) had a lower turnout.

Popular Vote
CDU
 
37.18%
SPD
 
23.71%
FDP
 
16.22%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
13.74%
DIE LINKE
 
5.37%
FW
 
1.63%
NPD
 
0.86%
Other
 
1.30%
Landtag seats
CDU
 
38.98%
SPD
 
24.58%
FDP
 
16.95%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
14.41%
DIE LINKE
 
5.08%

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References

  1. ↑ "Ypsilanti Is Strictly Against A Grand Coalition": http://www.webnews.de/kommentare/119321/0/Ypsilanti-strikt-gegen-grosse-Koalition-in-Hessen.html
  2. ↑ https://www.derwesten.de/nachrichten/nachrichten/politik/2008/10/8/news-81876495/detail.html
  3. ↑ "Umfrage in Hessen zeigt erdrutschartige Verluste für SPD". Reuters. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  4. ↑ "SPD Continues to Sink in Popularity": http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/indexhessen34938.jsp?rubrik=34954&key=standard_document_35901984
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