Politics of Lower Saxony

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The Lower Saxony State Parliament ("Landtag") in Hannover Hannover Leineschloss.jpg
The Lower Saxony State Parliament ("Landtag") in Hannover

The Politics of Lower Saxony takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Lower Saxony. Since 1948 politics in the state has been dominated by the rightist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party. Lower Saxony was one of the origins of the German environmentalist movement in reaction to the state government's support for underground nuclear waste disposal. This led to the formation of the German Green Party in 1980.

Contents

Prime Minister

The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (German : Ministerpräsident) is the head of government of Lower Saxony. The current Prime Minister is Stephan Weil.

Election results

In the most recent state election in 2013, the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) held on to its position as the leading party in the state, despite losing votes and seats. The CDU's coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) however lost its majority to a coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Party Alliance 90/The Greens (The Greens). They have since ruled in a coalition with a one-vote majority. [1]

The election saw the exit out of the state parliament of the leftist The Left party, which had gained representation for the first time in 2008.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landtag of Lower Saxony</span> State diet of the German state of Lower Saxony

The Lower Saxon Landtag or the Parliament of Lower Saxony is the state diet of the German state of Lower Saxony. It convenes in Hanover and currently consists of 146 members, consisting of four parties. Since 2022 the majority is a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Greens, supporting the cabinet of Minister-President Stephan Weil (SPD).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Weil</span> German politician

Stephan Weil is a German politician and the leader of the Social Democratic Party in Lower Saxony. On 20 January 2013, the SPD and the Green party won the 2013 Lower Saxony state election by one seat. On 19 February 2013, he was elected Minister President of Lower Saxony with the votes of SPD and Alliance '90/The Greens. From 1 November 2013 until 31 October 2014 he was President of the Bundesrat and ex officio deputy to the President of Germany. In November 2017, he was again elected Minister President with the votes of SPD and CDU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Saxony state election</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Lower Saxony state election</span>

The 2017 Lower Saxony state election was held on 15 October 2017 to elect the 18th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Stephan Weil was defeated. Though the SPD became the largest party in the Landtag largely fueled by the personal popularity of Weil, their gains were offset by losses for the Greens, depriving the government of its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Weil continued as Minister-President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Saxony state election</span>

The 2019 Saxony state election was held on 1 September 2019 to elect the members of the 7th Landtag of Saxony. The outgoing government was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Michael Kretschmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election</span> German state election

The 2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election was held on 6 June 2021 to elect the 8th Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. The outgoing government was coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Social Democratic Party (SPD), and The Greens, led by Minister-President Reiner Haseloff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Lower Saxony state election</span>

The 2022 Lower Saxony state election was held on 9 October 2022 to elect the 19th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) led by Minister-President Stephan Weil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Weil cabinet</span> State government of Lower Saxony

The second Weil cabinet was the state government of Lower Saxony between 2017 and 2022, sworn in on 22 November 2017 after Stephan Weil was elected as Minister-President of Lower Saxony by the members of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. It was the 29th Cabinet of Lower Saxony.

References

  1. "German opposition wins Lower Saxony election". BBC News. 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2017-08-06.