Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2005

The Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2005, was conducted on February 20, 2005, to elect members to the Landtag (state legislature) of Schleswig-Holstein.

Issues and Campaign

Surveys before the election indicated that most voters considered high unemployment in Germany and Schleswig-Holstein to be the key issue of the campaign. Pre-election polls indicated that the personal popularity of Heide Simonis was still high, though, and that the SPD-Green coalition would continue to have the support of a plurality of voters. However, the unpopularity of the national SPD and the Hartz IV reforms appear to have taken a toll.

Results

The announced results are as follows. Note that there is a considerable reduction in the number of Landtag seats.

Post-election

After the election, the SPD-Green coalition no longer commanded a majority of the Landtag. The SSW announced that although it would not enter a coalition, it saw more common ground with the SPD than the CDU. Premier Heide Simonis proceeded to form an SPD-Green coalition based on an agreement with the SSW backing it.

On March 17, 2005, Simonis failed to win a Landtag vote for the premiership, with the secret ballot tying 34-34. It is not known who the abstainer was, though it is widely believed to have been a representative of her own party. Since the SPD-Green coalition had fallen with her leadership, the SPD was forced to negotiate a grand coalition with the CDU, acceding to the CDU's demand that CDU leader Peter Harry Carstensen replace Simonis as Minister-president.

ources

* [http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/e/index_e.htm The Federal Returning Officer]