2011 Baden-Württemberg state election
27 March 2011
All 138 seats in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
70 seats needed for a majority
Turnout4,983,719 (66.2%)
Increase 12.8%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Stefan Mappus Winfried Kretschmann
Party CDU Greens
Last election 69 seats, 44.2% 17 seats, 11.7%
Seats won 60 36
Seat change Decrease 9 Increase 19
Popular vote 1,942,404 1,205,508
Percentage 39.0% 24.2%
Swing Decrease 5.2% Increase 12.5%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Nils Schmid Ullrich Goll
Party SPD FDP
Last election 38 seats, 25.2% 15 seats, 10.7%
Seats won 35 7
Seat change Decrease 3 Decrease 8
Popular vote 1,151,859 262,520
Percentage 23.1% 5.3%
Swing Decrease 2.1% Decrease 5.4%
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Minister-President before election

Stefan Mappus
CDU

 Elected Minister-President

Winfried Kretschmann
Greens

The 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election was held on 27 March 2011 to elect the members of the 14th Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. The incumbent coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union and Free Democratic Party led by Minister-President Stefan Mappus lost its majority. The Greens achieved their best result in a state election up to this point at 24%, and became the second largest party in the Landtag. They subsequently formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Greens leader Winfried Kretschmann was elected Minister-President. He became the first Green politician to serve as a state head of government in Germany.

Campaign and issues

The Baden-Württemberg election was considered to have significant ramifications for Chancellor Angela Merkel; the state had been a CDU stronghold for almost 60 years.[1]

Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart 21 was a major election issue.[2] 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.

Transparent government became an issue due to the controversy about Stuttgart 21.[3]

The CDU government of Stefan Mappus supported of the project. The government opposed demonstrations and civil disobedience campaigns against the project, which were broken up by force, with police using tear gas and water cannons on protestors. Mappus was considered to have linked his political fate to the success or failure of the project.

The SPD leadership also supported Stuttgart 21, but since early 2010 called for a referendum on the issue "to pacify the city" and end the ongoing protests. The party did not take a clear stance on the issue due to opposition of the project from much of its membership.

Opposition to Stuttgart 21 led to "unprecedented popularity" for the Alliance 90/The Greens in Baden-Württemberg and a major rise in the polls.[2]

As a coalition partner of the CDU in the Mappus government, the FDP also supported Stuttgart 21. The party was criticized for its acceptance of the violent force used against demonstrators in the late summer of 2010.

Nuclear power

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the temporary shutdown of Germany's seven nuclear power stations built before 1980.[1] She also stated that she was committed to total withdrawal from nuclear power sooner than the revisited nuclear exit plan dates.[1]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Baden-Württemberg.

Name Ideology Leader(s) 2006 result
Votes (%) Seats
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands		 Christian democracy Stefan Mappus 44.2%
69 / 139
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 Social democracy Nils Schmid 25.2%
38 / 139
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei		 Classical liberalism Ullrich Goll 10.7%
15 / 139
Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen		 Green politics Winfried Kretschmann 11.7%
17 / 139

Opinion polling

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size		 CDU SPD Grüne FDP Linke Others Lead
2011 state election 27 Mar 2011 – 39.0 23.1 24.2 5.3 2.8 5.6 14.8
YouGov 20–24 Mar 2011 1,003 36 22 26 6 5 5 10
Emnid 18–24 Mar 2011 1,000 38 23 25 5 4 5 13
Forsa 16–22 Mar 2011 1,025 38 24 24 5 4 5 14
Emnid 17 Mar 2011 500 38 22 25 6 4 5 13
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 15–17 Mar 2011 1,382 38 22.5 25 5 4.5 5 13
Infratest dimap 14–17 Mar 2011 1,250 39 22 24 5.5 4.5 5 15
Infratest dimap 10–12 Mar 2011 1,001 42 22 21 6 4 5 20
Emnid 4–10 Mar 2011 1,000 39 24 20 7 5 5 15
Forsa 3–8 Mar 2011 1,004 40 26 20 5 4 5 14
Emnid 24 Feb – 1 Mar 2011 1,000 38 25 21 8 4 4 13
Forsa 21–25 Feb 2011 1,001 39 26 19 6 4 6 13
Emnid 18–24 Feb 2011 1,000 40 23 22 6 4 5 17
Customer Research 42 8–19 Feb 2011 705 35.0 21.6 21.2 5.2 5.9 11.1 13.4
Uni Freiburg 31 Jan – 22 Feb 2011 1,126 41.1 22.7 24.2 6.0 2.8 3.2 16.9
Emnid 11–17 Feb 2011 1,000 40 20 23 7 5 5 17
Emnid 4–10 Feb 2011 1,000 40 19 25 7 4 5 15
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 31 Jan – 2 Feb 2011 1,146 41 19 25 6 4 5 16
Infratest dimap 1–2 Feb 2011 1,000 39 21 24 6 5 5 15
Emnid 24–17 Jan 2011 1,022 40 20 27 5 4 4 13
Emnid 7–15 Dec 2010 1,001 41 19 29 4 4 3 12
Infratest dimap 1 Dec 2010 1,010 39 18 28 5 5 5 11
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 22–24 Nov 2010 1,910 39 19 26 5 4 7 13
Allensbach 1–15 Oct 2010 1,096 38.0 22.0 26.0 5.0 5.0 4.0 12.0
TNS Forschung 6–7 Oct 2010 1,002 34 19 32 6 5 4 2
abs Marktforschung 5–6 Oct 2010 968 28 17 36 8 7 – 8
Infratest dimap 2–7 Sep 2010 1,000 35 21 27 5 5 7 8
Forsa 16–27 Aug 2010 1,068 37 24 24 6 4 5 13
Infratest Politikforschung 12–15 Jul 2010 1,000 37 25 20 7 5 6 12
Infratest Politikforschung 23 Mar – 13 Apr 2010 991 41 23 17 8 5 6 18
Allensbach 24 Feb – 8 Mar 2010 1,030 43 21 18 8 5.5 4.5 22
Infratest dimap 17 Feb 2010 1,000 43 20 17 11 4 5 23
2009 federal election 27 Sep 2009 – 34.5 19.3 13.9 18.8 7.2 6.3 15.2
Infratest Sozialforschung 20 Apr – 3 May 2009 1,000 39 22 15 14 6 4 17
Infratest dimap 2–3 Jun 2009 1,000 40 21 14 15 4 6 19
Uni Halle/Uni Stuttgart 8–20 Sep 2008 1,000 39.9 26.0 17.2 10.2 4.8 1.9 13.9
Forsa 2–24 Jul 2007 1,034 43 19 13 12 6 7 24
Forsa 19 Apr 2007  ? 40 26 13 12 3 6 14
Infratest dimap 16 Apr 2007 1,000 41 26 16 10 2[lower-alpha 1] 5 15
Infratest dimap 26–27 Mar 2007 1,000 41 26 14 9 4[lower-alpha 2] 4[lower-alpha 3] 15
Forsa 20 Nov – 15 Dec 2006 1,220 44 20 13 12 4 7[lower-alpha 4] 24
Forsa 12 Jun – 4 Jul 2006 1,403 43 23 12 12 5 5 20
2006 state election 26 Mar 2006 – 44.2 25.2 11.7 10.7 3.1[lower-alpha 5] 5.3[lower-alpha 6] 19.0

Results

Summary of the 27 March 2011 election results for the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg
Party Votes  % +/- Seats +/- Seats %
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 1,943,912 39.0 Decrease5.2 60 Decrease9 43.5
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) 1,206,182 24.2 Increase12.5 36 Increase19 26.1
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 1,152,594 23.1 Decrease2.1 35 Decrease3 25.4
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 262,784 5.3 Decrease5.4 7 Decrease8 5.1
The Left (Linke) 139,700 2.8 Decrease0.3 0 ±0 0
Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) 103,618 2.1 New 0 New 0
The Republicans (REP) 56,723 1.1 Decrease1.4 0 ±0 0
Others 118,206 2.4 Decrease0.2 0 ±0 0
Total 4,983,719 100.0 138 Decrease1
Voter turnout 66.2 Increase12.8
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, outgoing Minister-President Stefan Mappus announced his resignation as chairman of the Christian Democratic Union in Baden-Württemberg.[4] Federal Social Democratic Party leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier insisted that Chancellor Angela Merkel should call for new elections after the defeat of the Christian Democratic Union in Baden-Württemberg.[5]

On 27 April 2011, the Greens and the Social Democratic Party announced that they had finalized their coalition agreement.[6] Winfried Kretschmann and Social Democratic Party leader Nils Schmid presented an 83-page document titled The Change Begins.[6] The only minister named was Nils Schmid, who became Deputy Minister-President and "super-minister" for finance and the economy.[6] Other than Schmid, the coalition announced which parties were to receive each ministry, but did not name appointees.[6] The Social Democrats acquired the majority of the ministerial positions, but the Greens had a majority in the cabinet.[6] The Greens obtained the ministries of the environment, transportation, science, rural areas, consumer protection and a ministry for civil society.[7] The Social Democrats got the ministries of the economy, finance, justice, labour, schools, welfare, and the interior.[7] As part of the coalition agreement, the red-green alliance agreed to organize a referendum regarding Stuttgart 21.[6] They also agreed on "radical changes" to the education system and transport policy, and to accelerate the phasing out of nuclear power.[6] Hermann Gröhe, the secretary general of the CDU, "condemned" the coalition agreement.[6]

On 12 May 2011, Winfried Kretschmann was sworn in as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg.[8] Kretschmann became the first Minister-President in Germany from the Greens.[9][8] In the Landtag vote for Minister-President, Kretschmann received at least two votes from the opposition.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Die Linke.PDS/WASG
  2. ↑ Die Linke.PDS/WASG
  3. ↑ 3% Right-wing parties, 3% Other
  4. ↑ 2% REP, 5% Other
  5. ↑ WASG
  6. ↑ 2.5% REP, 2.8% Other

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pidd, Helen (27 March 2011). "German Greens hail state victory in vote overshadowed by Fukushima". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 "CDU wary after Stuttgart rail project approval". Financial Times. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  3. ↑ "Taxpayers face rising cost for Stuttgart 21". The Local. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Mappus legt Parteivorsitz nieder". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "SPD-Chef Steinmeier fordert Neuwahlen in Deutschland". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jones, Timothy (27 April 2011). "Greens and SPD present coalition agreement in Baden-Württemberg". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  7. 1 2 Moore, Michael Scott (28 April 2011). "'A Green Leader Has Risen' in[Baden-Württemberg". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  8. 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.
  9. 1 2 "Kretschmann erhält sogar zwei Oppositionsstimmen". Die Welt (in German). 12 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
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