2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election
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All 87 seats of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt 44 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Saxony-Anhalt state election was held on 13 March 2016 in Saxony-Anhalt for the 7th legislative period of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. The incumbent Minister-President was Reiner Haseloff of the CDU, governing in a grand coalition with the SPD.
After the elections, a governing coalition consisting of the CDU, the SPD and the Greens was formed, and Haseloff was re-elected as minister president of Saxony-Anhalt on 25 April 2016.[1] The coalition has been nicknamed the "Kenya coalition" because the participating parties' colors are black, red, and green, the colors of the flag of Kenya.[2]
Polls
The reference for the polls is wahlrecht.de.[3]
| Poll | Date | CDU | Left | SPD | Green | NPD | FDP | Pirate | AfD | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[4] | 3/10/2016 | 32% | 21% | 14% | 5% | – | 4.5% | – | 18% | 5.5% |
| Forsa[4] | 3/9/2016 | 30% | 20% | 17% | 5% | – | 5% | – | 18% | 5% |
| INSA[4] | 3/7/2016 | 29% | 20% | 15.5% | 6% | – | 4% | – | 19% | 6.5% |
| uniQma[4] | 3/7/2016 | 30% | 19% | 18% | 5% | 1% | 4% | – | 17% | 6% |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[4] | 3/4/2016 | 32% | 20% | 15% | 5% | – | 4% | – | 17% | 7% |
| Infratest dimap[4] | 3/3/2016 | 31% | 21% | 15% | 5.5% | – | 4.5% | – | 19% | 4% |
| INSA[4] | 2/28/2016 | 29.5% | 20% | 17% | 5% | – | 5% | – | 17% | 6.5% |
| INSA[4] | 2/22/2016 | 30% | 21% | 16% | 5% | – | 4% | – | 17% | 7% |
| Infratest dimap[4] | 2/17/2016 | 32% | 20% | 18% | 5% | – | 4% | – | 17% | 4% |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[4] | 1/14/2016 | 33% | 19% | 19% | 5% | – | 3% | – | 15% | 6% |
| INSA[4] | 12/5/2015 | 35% | 23% | 15.5% | 6% | – | 3% | – | 13.5% | 4% |
| Infratest dimap[4] | 9/14/2015 | 34% | 26% | 21% | 7% | 3% | – | – | 5% | 4% |
| GMS[4] | 7/1/2015 | 35% | 21% | 21% | 6% | 3% | 4% | – | 6% | 4% |
| Infratest dimap[4] | 8/20/2013 | 39% | 22% | 21% | 7% | – | 2% | 3% | – | 6% |
| State election 2011[4] | 3/20/2011 | 32.5% | 23.7% | 21.5% | 7.1% | 4.6% | 3.8% | 1.4% | N/A | 5.4% |
Results
| Party | Popular vote | Seats | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | ||||||
| Christian Democratic Union Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands – CDU |
334,123 | 29.8 |  2.7 |
30 | 6
| |||||
| Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland – AfD |
271,832 | 24.2 |  24.2 |
24 | 24
| |||||
| The Left Die Linke |
183,296 | 16.3 | 7.4 |
17 | 12
| |||||
| Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD |
119,377 | 10.6 | 10.9 |
11 | 15
| |||||
| Alliance '90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen |
58,226 | 5.2 | 1.9 |
5 | 4
| |||||
| Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP |
54,525 | 4.9 | 1.1 |
– | – | |||||
| Free Voters Saxony-Anhalt Freie Wähler |
24,287 | 2.2 | 0.7 |
– | – | |||||
| National Democratic Party of Germany Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands – NPD |
21,211 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
– | – | |||||
| Animal Protection Party Tierschutzpartei |
16,613 | 1.5 | 0.1 |
– | – | |||||
| Alliance for Human Rights, Animal and Nature Protection Tierschutzallianz |
11,629 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
– | – | |||||
| Alliance for Progress and Renewal Allianz für Fortschritt und Aufbruch – ALFA |
10,471 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
– | – | |||||
| Other parties | – | 1.5 | 2.3 |
– | – | |||||
| Valid votes | 1,122,814 | 97.8% | 0.2
|
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| Invalid votes | 24,671 | 2.2% | 0.2
| |||||||
| Totals and voter turnout | 1,147,485 | 87 | 18
| |||||||
| Electorate | 1,878,095 | 100.00 | — | |||||||
| Source: Landeswahlleiterin[5] | ||||||||||
Post-election
Minister President Rainer Haseloff with his CDU took approximately 29 percent of the votes[6] and thereby remained the largest party in the state parliament,[7] but faced a strong AfD right wing opposition. Haseloff stated after the elections that "the actual rise, which came for the AfD in the polls has a city name: It's Cologne."[8] He explained that the rise of the votes for his party in the state came because "we at least did nothing wrong as a Christian Democratic Union here in Saxony-Anhalt."[8]
According to observers, the only realistic possibility for a coalition government with a majority was one consisting of the CDU, SPD and the Greens.[9] Together, they had a two-seat majority. Other combinations (such as the CDU and Die Linke) were considered unlikely, or politically unpalatable (CDU and AfD). For a broad based majority, the coalition would have needed to bring in Die Linke into the government, which was unpalatable as well.
Other possible options - and having precedent in some of the eastern states of Germany - would have been a minority government of one or other of the parties that would be 'tolerated' by a third party or fourth party. In such a situation, a minority government of the CDU and SPD could have been 'tolerated' by the Greens and/or Die Linke, even if they themselves formed no part of government. Similarly, a CDU and Green coalition could have been tolerated by the SPD and/or Die Linke, or a SPD-Linke-Green coalition could be tolerated by the CDU, although the latter wouldn't be realistic as well.[10]
Haseloff was able to keep power in Saxony-Anhalt, as he managed to form a CDU, SPD and the Green Party coalition (also called "Kenya coalition" after the colours of the Kenyan flag), the first of the German states. On 25 April 2016 he was re-elected in parliament as minister president of the state during a second ballot, where he managed to gain one vote more than the coalition majority.[1]
References
- ^ a b Haseloff erst im zweiten Anlauf wiedergewählt, Frankfurter Allgemeine, in German
- ^ "Sealed first "Kenya" coalition in Saxony-Anhalt: Government". Archy World News. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ "Umfragen Sachsen-Anhalt". wahlrecht.de. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wahlrecht.de: Wahlumfragen zur Landtagswahl in Sachsen-Anhalt.
- ^ "Wahl des 7. Landtages von Sachsen-Anhalt am 13. März 2016 – Vorläufiges Ergebnis" (in German). Landeswahlleiterin Sachsen-Anhalt. 13 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ Janosch Delcker (March 13, 2016), Angela Merkel’s conservatives lose two major regional elections Politico Europe.
- ^ Philip Oltermann (March 14, 2016), Germany 'won't change policy' after gains for anti-refugee AfD party The Guardian.
- ^ a b "Haseloff (CDU): "als christlich-demokratische Union hier in Sachsen-Anhalt nichts falsch gemacht"" [Haseloff (CDU): "As a Christian Democratic Union here in Saxony-Anhalt done nothing wrong"]. Phoenix (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ http://www.mz-web.de/mitteldeutschland/landtagswahl2016/regierungsbildung-sachsen-anhalt-haseloff---wir-wissen--worauf-es-ankommt--23739044
- ^ "German state elections: Success for right-wing AfD, losses for Merkel's CDU". 14 March 2016.
