Baden-Württemberg state election, 2011

Baden-Württemberg state election, 2011
Baden-Württemberg
27 March 2011

All 139 seats in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
70 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 66.2%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Stefan Mappus Winfried Kretschmann
Party CDU Green
Last election 44.2% 11.7%
Seats before 69 17
Seats won 60 36
Seat change -9 +19
Popular vote 1.942.404 1.205.508
Percentage 39% 24.1%
Swing -5.2% 12.4%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Nils Schmid Ullrich Goll
Party SPD FDP
Last election 25.2% 10.7%
Seats before 38 15
Seats won 35 7
Seat change -3 -8
Popular vote 1.151.859 262.520
Percentage 23.1% 5.3%
Swing -2.1% -5.4%

Seats won by party
black = absolute majority for CDU
grey = plurality for CDU
green = plurality for Greens
red = plurality for SPD

Minister-President before election

Stefan Mappus
CDU

Elected Minister-President

Winfried Kretschmann
Green

The Baden-Württemberg state election 2011 was held on 27 March 2011[1] to elect members to Baden-Württemberg's State diet, the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. It was the 14th state election since the foundation of Baden-Württemberg in 1952. Before, Stefan Mappus (CDU) had led a coalition government of his party with the FDP, which in the election lost its majority to Alliance '90/The Greens, who scored their all-time best state election result, and the Social Democrats.

Like in all German states, elections in Baden-Württemberg follow the mixed member proportional representation. There are 70 constituency seats and at least 50 additional seats to be filled, making up a total of seats of at least 120. A higher number can be reached through overhang seats and additional seats to restore proportional representation. Unlike all other states, there are no party lists. Instead, the seats for a party which are not filled by constituency winners go to the party's remaining constituency candidates with the highest percentages of votes. For the first time, the Sainte-Laguë method was used to calculate the seat allocation.

As a result, the top candidate of the Alliance '90/The Greens, Winfried Kretschmann, was elected as Baden-Württemberg's new Minister-President, the first of his party holding such an office in Germany, by the new majority of Greens and Social Democrats in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg, and at least two votes from the opposition.

The agenda of the new government includes changing from nuclear power as soon as possible, major education reforms, an increase to the land transfer tax to support the expansion of child care funding and eliminating tuition fees.[2]

Campaign and issues

Despite its local scope, the Baden-Württemberg elections have been designated a pivotal event for federal chancellor Angela Merkel. The state had been her party's stronghold for about 58 years.[3]

Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart 21 was an election issue in Baden-Württemberg.[4] Work for this project, that sets out to transform the Stuttgart Main Station from a terminus station into a subterranean non-terminus station, was started in the summer of 2010 despite massive protests by the Stuttgart population. The main reasons for the protests are the questionable necessity of the transformation, i.e. the disproportionate costs (between 4 and 5 billion Euros) in relation to the (small) gains in travel time (the current station is a functioning station with 90% of the passengers ending their journey here anyway), the dismantling and partial destruction of the old station building (generally considered to be cultural heritage), the destruction of some of the inner-city's park ("Schlossgarten"), the geological risks posed by the tunnels that would have to be drilled into the Stuttgart ground, endangering Europe's second largest mineral water sources and spas, and the danger of some of the buildings above the tunnels collapsing.

Christian Democratic Union The CDU government of Stefan Mappus was a supporter of the project and even used police force, including tear gas and water cannons, to break up demonstrations and civil disobedience campaigns of the opponents. Mappus basically linked his political fate to the success or failure of the project.

Social Democratic Party The SPD leadership is also a supporter of Stuttgart 21, but since early 2010 has called for a referendum on the issue "to pacify the city" and end the ongoing protests. In general, the party hasn't really taken a clear stance on the issue, though, as some of its (lower) members are also opposed to the project.

Alliance '90/The Greens
The opposition to Stuttgart 21 has led to "unprecedented popularity" for the Alliance '90/The Greens in Baden-Württemberg,[4] and has led the party into the role of being the senior partner in a new coalition government with the Social Democratic Party.[4]

Free Democratic Party The FDP as a coalition partner of the CDU in the Mappus government has also supported Stuttgart 21. It was criticized of being a civil rights party in name only, as it was not protesting against the harsh police force used against demonstrators in the late summer of 2010.

Transparent government

Transparent government has become an issue since the controversy about Stuttgart 21 started.[5]

Christian Democratic Union

Social Democratic Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Free Democratic Party

Nuclear

Christian Democratic Union

Social Democratic Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Free Democratic Party

Direct Democracy

Christian Democratic Union

Social Democratic Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Free Democratic Party

Media

Christian Democratic Union

Social Democratic Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Free Democratic Party

Nuclear power

Christian Democratic Union
Following the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, Chancellor Angela Merkel changed policy on nuclear power by announcing the temporary shutdown of the seven nuclear power stations built before 1980.[3] She also stated that she was committed to total withdrawal from nuclear power sooner than the revisited nuclear exit plan dates.[3]

Polls

The reference for the poll is wahlrecht.de[6]

Party Last
election
2010-07-27
Infratest
2010-09-01
Forsa
2010-09-08
Infratest
2010-10-08
abs
2010-10-09
TNS
2010-11-19
Allensbach
2010-11-26
FGW
2010-12-02
Infratest
2010-12-19
Emnid
2011-02-28
Forsa
2011-03-17
Infratest
CDU 44.2% 37% 37% 35% 28% 34% 38% 39% 39% 41% 39% 39%
SPD 25.2% 25% 24% 21% 17% 19% 22% 19% 18% 19% 26% 22%
The Greens 11.7% 20% 24% 27% 36% 32% 26% 26% 28% 29% 19% 25%
FDP 10.7% 7% 6% 5% 8% 6% 5% 5% 5% 4% 5% 6%
The Left 3.1% (WASG) 5% 4% 5% 7% 5% 5% 4% 5% 4% 4% 5%
Other 5.2% 6% 5% 7% 4% 4% 7% 5% 7% 5%

Results

Summary of the 27 March 2011 election results for the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg

 
Party Ideology Vote % (change) Seats (change) Seat Change %
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian democracy, Conservatism 39.0 -5.2 60 -9 -13
Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen) Green politics 24.2 +12.5 36 +19 +111.8
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Social democracy, Third way 23.1 -2.1 35 -3 -7.9
Free Democratic Party (FDP) Liberalism 5.3 -5.4 7 -8 -53.3
Die Linke (formerly WASG) Democratic socialism 2.8 -0.3
Pirate Party (Pirates) Freedom of Information 2.1 +2.1
The Republicans Nationalism, National conservatism 1.1 -1.4
All Others 2.4
Total 100.0% 138
Popular Vote
CDU
 
39.01%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
24.20%
SPD
 
23.13%
FDP
 
5.27%
DIE LINKE
 
2.80%
PIRATEN
 
2.08%
REP
 
1.14%
Other
 
2.37%
Landtag seats
CDU
 
43.48%
B'90/GRÜNE
 
26.09%
SPD
 
25.36%
FDP
 
5.07%

Post-election

After the loss, Stefan Mappus announced his resignation as chairman of the Christian Democratic Union in Baden-Württemberg.[7] Federal Social Democratic Party leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier has insisted that Chancellor Angela Merkel should call for new elections after the defeat of the Christian Democratic Union in Baden-Württemberg.[8]

On 27 April 2011, the Green party and the Social Democratic Party announced that they have finalized their coalition agreement.[9] Winfried Kretschmann and Social Democratic Party leader Nils Schmid presented an 83-page document called "The Change Begins".[9] The only minister named was Nils Schmid. He will become Deputy Minister-President and "super-minister" for finance and the economy.[9] Other than Nils Schmid's appointment, the Red-Green Alliance only announced which parties would get each ministry.[9] The Social Democrats will get the majority of the ministerial positions but the Greens will have a majority in the cabinet.[9] The Greens are to obtain the ministries of the environment, transportation, science, rural areas, consumer protection and a ministry for civil society.[10] The Social Democrats will get the ministries of the economy, finance, justice, labour, schools, welfare, and the interior ministry.[10] As part of the coalition agreement, the Red-Green Alliance agreed to have a referendum on Stuttgart 21.[9] They would like to have the referendum by mid-October.[9] The Red-Green Alliance also agreed on "radical changes" to the education system and transport policy and to accelerate the phasing out of nuclear power.[9] Hermann Gröhe, the secretary general of the CDU, "condemned" the coalition agreement.[9]

On 12 May 2011, Winfried Kretschmann was sworn in as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg.[11] Kretschmann became the first Minister-President in Germany to represent the Green Party.[2][11] Kretschmann received 2 votes from the opposition.[2]

References

  1. "Factbox: Key dates in Angela Merkel's political calendar". Reuters. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Kretschmann erhält sogar zwei Oppositionsstimmen". Die Welt (in German). 12 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Pidd, Helen (27 March 2011). "German Greens hail state victory in vote overshadowed by Fukushima". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "CDU wary after Stuttgart rail project approval". Financial Times. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  5. "Taxpayers face rising cost for Stuttgart 21". The Local. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  6. "Umfragen Baden-Württemberg". wahlrecht.de. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  7. "Mappus legt Parteivorsitz nieder". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  8. s/politik---wirtschaft/spd-chef-steinmeier-fordert-neuwahlen-in-deutschland/-/5066858/8274598/-/index.html "SPD-Chef Steinmeier fordert Neuwahlen in Deutschland" Check |url= value (help). Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Jones, Timothy (27 April 2011). "Greens and SPD present coalition agreement in Baden-Württemberg". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  10. 1 2 Moore, Michael Scott (28 April 2011). "'A Green Leader Has Risen' in[Baden-Württemberg". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  11. 1 2 Werkhäuser, Nina (12 May 2011). "Greens make history as they take over Germany's conservative south-west". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 12 May 2011.

External links

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