The 2011 Hamburg state election was held on 20 February 2011 to elect the members of the 20th
Hamburg Parliament
The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...
. The election was triggered by the collapse of the
coalition government between the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the
Green Alternative List (GAL), which had governed the state since 2008.
The election was a landslide defeat for the CDU, which lost half its voteshare and seats. The margin of defeat for the incumbent Ahlhaus Senate is the largest in post-war German history and has not been met since. Much of this lost support flowed to the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SPD), which won 62 of the 121 seats in Parliament, forming a majority government led by
Olaf Scholz.
Background
After the
2008 state election, the CDU formed a coalition government with the GAL. This was the first time such a government had been formed in Germany, as the Greens were seen as aligned with the SPD, typically in opposition to the CDU. Popular CDU mayor
Ole von Beust
Ole von Beust (born 13 April 1955) is a former German politician who was First Mayor of Hamburg from 31 October 2001 to 25 August 2010, serving as President of the Bundesrat from 1 November 2007 on for one year. He was succeeded as mayor by C ...
was seen as a stabilising force for the government. After his retirement in August 2010 and the election of
Christoph Ahlhaus
Christoph Ahlhaus (born 28 August 1969) is a German politician. He is a representative of the German Christian Democratic Union which he joined in 1985. He was the mayor of Hamburg from August 2010 to March 2011.
Personal life
Ahlhaus was bo ...
as his successor, relations between the two parties became increasingly strained.
In November 2010, GAL left the government. Ahlhaus formed a minority CDU Senate and the Parliament subsequently voted to dissolve itself and hold early elections.
Parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 19th Hamburg Parliament.
Opinion polling
Election result
, -
! colspan="2" , Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
! Seats %
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SPD)
, align= 1,667,804
, align= 48.4
, align= 14.3
, align= 62
, align= 17
, align= 51.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, align= 753,805
, align= 21.9
, align= 20.7
, align= 28
, align= 28
, align= 23.1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
Green Alternative List (GAL)
, align= 384,502
, align= 11.2
, align= 1.6
, align= 14
, align= 2
, align= 11.6
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, align= 229,125
, align= 6.7
, align= 1.9
, align= 9
, align= 9
, align= 7.4
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
The Left (Linke)
, align= 220,428
, align= 6.4
, align= 0.0
, align= 8
, align= 0
, align= 6.6
, -
! colspan=8,
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left ,
Pirate Party Germany
The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informa ...
(Piraten)
, align= 73,126
, align= 2.1
, align= 1.9
, align= 0
, align= ±0
, align= 0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left , Others
, align= 115,812
, align= 3.4
, align=
, align= 0
, align= ±0
, align= 0
, -
! align=right colspan=2, Total
! align= 3,444,602
! align= 100.0
! align=
! align= 121
! align= ±0
! align=
, -
! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout
! align=
! align= 57.3
! align= 6.2
! align=
! align=
! align=
See also
*
Elections in Hamburg
The number of elections in Hamburg varies. Hamburg has a state election every five years, the elections for the state parliament. There are also elections to the federal diet (the lower house of the federal parliament) of Germany, the local el ...
*
Hamburg state elections in the Weimar Republic
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamburg State Election, 2011
2011 elections in Germany
2011 state election
2011
February 2011 events in Germany
Olaf Scholz