2023 Bavarian State Election
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The 2023 Bavarian state election was held on 8 October 2023 to elect the members of the 19th
Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held every ...
. The outgoing government was a coalition of the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria ( German: , CSU) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democra ...
(CSU) and the
Free Voters of Bavaria The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: ''Freie Wähler Bayern'') is a conservative political party in Bavaria, considered centre-right.
(FW) led by
Minister-President of Bavaria Below is a list of the men who have served in the capacity of Minister-President or equivalent office in the German state of Bavaria from the 17th century to the present. Privy Council chancellor Privy Council chancellors (''Geheime Ratskanzl ...
Markus Söder Markus Thomas Theodor Söder (born 5 January 1967) is a German politician from Bavaria, Germany serving as List of Ministers-President of Bavaria, Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, lead ...
. The 2023 Hessian state election was held the same day. The CSU remained the largest party with only a slight decline to 37%. The Free Voters improved to second place with 16%, their best result to date. The opposition
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD) was a close third on 15%.
The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...
declined to 14%, followed by 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 Form ...
(SPD) on a historic low of 8%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) fell to 3% and lost their seats. Overall, the incumbent coalition increased its majority thanks to the Free Voters' gains. The result, amidst a campaign dominated by federal issues such as immigration, was perceived as a blow for the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
, with its three member parties – the SPD, Greens, and FDP – all suffering losses. The results also indicated the increasing popularity of the far-right AfD, which in previous months had moved into second place in federal
opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of que ...
.


Election organisation


Election date and preparation deadlines

According to the Bavarian Constitution, the election must be held on a Sunday "at the earliest 59 months, at the latest 62 months" after the preceding state election unless the Landtag is dissolved early, in this case the new election shall be held at the latest on the sixth Sunday after the dissolution. The preceding state election took place on 14 October 2018. This would allow an election date between 17 September and 10 December 2023. The elections since 1978 have always taken place between mid-September and mid-October. The Bavarian state government proposed 8 October 2023 as the election date on 15 November 2022 and officially set it on 13 December 2022 after hearing the parties to the state parliament. At the same day elections of the Bezirktags, two District Administrators and some Mayors take place. The deadline for determining the population figures, which are decisive for the distribution of the 180 Landtag mandates among the seven Bavarian administrative districts and possible changes of the electoral districts, was 14 July 2021 (33 months after the election of the previous Landtag). On this basis, the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior had to submit a constituency report to the Landtag until 36 months after the election. This was done on 12 October 2021. Delegates to the internal meetings of the parties can be appointed at the earliest 43 months after the preceding election, i.e. 15 May 2022. The actual district candidates are eligible at the earliest 46 months after the preceding election, i.e. 15 August 2022. The parties and other organised electoral groups which have not been represented continuously in the Bavarian Landtag or in the German Bundestag since their last election on the basis of their own election proposals ( CDU,
CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...
,
SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...
,
Free Voters of Bavaria The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: ''Freie Wähler Bayern'') is a conservative political party in Bavaria, considered centre-right.
,
Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...
, FDP,
Die Linke Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...
,
AfD Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...
) have to notify their intention to participate to the State Election Commissioner by the 90th day before the election. The actual election proposals and any necessary signatures have to be submitted by the 73rd day before the election.


Electoral system

The Landtag is elected using
mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...
. Every voter has two votes, one for a candidate in their local constituency and one for a candidate in their regional district. Both votes are taken into account in the allocation of seats according to proportional representation. The election law was changed in 2022 to use the
Sainte-Laguë method The Webster method, also called the Sainte-Laguë method (), is a highest averages apportionment method for allocating seats in a parliament among federal states, or among parties in a party-list proportional representation system. The Sainte- ...
. There is no state-wide proportional representation; regional seats are allocated within the seven administrative districts, which are referred to as "constituencies" (''Wahlkreise'') in the constitution. The regional seats are allocated in an open-list fashion, according to votes cast for candidates. Only parties and electoral groups that win at least 5% of the total votes across Bavaria (sum of first and second votes, meaning party votes and local district contest votes) participate in the allocation of seats. The regional "constituencies" are divided into local "electoral districts" (''Stimmkreise''), in each of which one MP is directly elected by getting plurality in the first (only) round. The number of local "electoral districts" (91) is about equal to the number of seats in the regional "constituencies" (89). In addition, 23 seats may be allocated as levelling seats or to compensate for overhang.


Campaign


Free Voters

In August 2023, the ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'' reported on a pamphlet with
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
contents that
Hubert Aiwanger Hubert Aiwanger (born 26 January 1971) is a German politician and party leader of the Free Voters (German: ''Freie Wähler'') since 2018, the Deputy Minister President of Bavaria and Bavarian Minister of Economic affairs, Regional Development an ...
may have authored and distributed at his high school some 35 years ago as a 17-year-old. Aiwanger admitted to carrying copies in his
satchel A satchel is a bag with a strap, traditionally used for carrying books.Satchel
The Cambridge Dictionary. ...
but denied writing the document. His older brother, a student at the same school at the time, later took responsibility for writing the antisemitic pamphlet itself. The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' drew some criticism for publishing the story six weeks before the election, without conclusive evidence and without talking to Aiwanger before publication. Bavarian premier
Markus Söder Markus Thomas Theodor Söder (born 5 January 1967) is a German politician from Bavaria, Germany serving as List of Ministers-President of Bavaria, Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, lead ...
demanded that Aiwanger answer 25 questions on the matter, including whether Aiwainger had actively distributed the antisemitic pamphlet. Aiwanger claimed multiple times to "not remember". Aiwanger's responses were heavily criticised as short and evasive. In his response to a question about other incidents, Aiwanger shortly mentioned that he remembers an unrelated incident in the arts class and noted a caution against breach of secrecy. Despite the story, Aiwanger's party,
Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...
, saw an increase in support in the polls.


AfD

On 4 October 2023,
Tino Chrupalla Tino Chrupalla (; born 14 April 1975) is a German politician from the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD). A member of the German parliament (Bundestag) since 2017, he has served as co-chairman of the AfD since 2019 along wi ...
was at an election campaign appearance in
Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...
. Before his speech he collapsed and came to the intensive care unit of a local hospital. What exactly led to the hospitalisation is unclear.


Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 18th Landtag of Bavaria.


Opinion polls


Graphical summary


Party polling


Minister-President polling


Election result

, - ! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Party ! colspan=3, Constituency ! colspan=2, Party list ! rowspan=2, Total
seats ! rowspan=2, +/- , - ! Votes ! % ! Seats ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Social Union , 2,527,810 , 37.0 , 85 , 2,531,761 , 37.1 , 85 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Free Voters of Bavaria The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: ''Freie Wähler Bayern'') is a conservative political party in Bavaria, considered centre-right.
, 1,078,037 , 15.8 , 2 , 1,085,812 , 15.9 , 37 , +10 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
, 1,008,195 , 14.7 , 0 , 992,240 , 14.5 , 32 , +10 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...
, 983,631 , 14.4 , 4 , 989,094 , 14.5 , 32 , -6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...
, 587,964 , 8.6 , 0 , 552,789 , 8.1 , 17 , -5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 205,677 , 3.0 , 0 , 208,210 , 3.1 , 0 , -11 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Ecological Democratic Party The Ecological Democratic Party (, ÖDP) is a green conservative and ecologist minor party in Germany. The ÖDP was founded in 1982. The strongest level of voting support for the ÖDP is in Bavaria, where in federal state elections they have ...
, 127,419 , 1.9 , 0 , 117,805 , 1.7 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left , 101,357 , 1.5 , 0 , 99,521 , 1.5 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Bavaria Party The Bavaria Party (, BP) is an autonomist, regionalist and conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The cen ...
, 72,325 , 1.1 , 0 , 57,155 , 0.8 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Grassroots Party , 55,600 , 0.8 , 0 , 63,889 , 0.9 , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Animal Protection Party The Animal Protection Party (APP) was a political party founded in England in 2006 to represent an animal rights perspective. It stood four candidates in the 2010 general election. The party de-registered in 2016. 2010 general election The APP ...
, 25,811 , 0.4 , 0 , 43,981 , 0.6 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...
, 32,378 , 0.5 , 0 , 31,776 , 0.5 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Volt Germany Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian A ...
, 15,785 , 0.2 , 0 , 25,909 , 0.4 , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, V-Partei3 , 11,061 , 0.2 , 0 , 11,764 , 0.2 , 0 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,
Party of Humanists The Party of Humanists () is a minor political party in Germany that first participated in the 2017 federal election. It is considered left-of-centre and supports socially liberal and secular policies, such as a federal European state, open ...
, 3,609 , 0.1 , 0 , 10,417 , 0.2 , 0 , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Total ! 6,836,659 ! 100.00 ! 91 ! 6,822,123 ! 100.00 ! 203 ! -2 , - , colspan=2 align=center, Invalid , 58,425 , 0.8 , , 72,715 , 1.1 , colspan=2, , - ! colspan=2, Turnout ! colspan=3, ! 6,895,807 ! 73.1 ! +0.8 ! colspan=2, , - , colspan=2 align=center, Registered voters , colspan=3, , 9,430,600 , colspan=4, File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen CSU 2023.svg, CSU vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen FW 2023.svg, FW vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen AfD 2023.svg, AfD vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen Linke 2023.svg, Linke vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen SPD 2023.svg, SPD vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen Grüne 2023.svg, Green vote File:Bayern Gesamtstimmen FDP 2023.svg, FDP vote


Aftermath and state government formation

After the election, the state government was again formed as a coalition between CSU and FW. Markus Söder was re-elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 31 October, with 120 votes for, 76 votes against, and two abstentions. He formed the
Third Söder cabinet The Third Söder cabinet was sworn in on 8 November 2023, following Markus Söder's re-election as List of ministers-president of Bavaria, Minister-President of Bavaria by the members of the Landtag of Bavaria on 31 October 2023. It is the 28th C ...
. AfD politician Daniel Halemba was elected to the Bavarian State Parliament in the 2023 Bavarian state election. On 27 October, three days before the constituent session, an arrest warrant was issued against him. Halemba was arrested on the morning of 30 October 2023 in
Kirchheim unter Teck Kirchheim unter Teck (, ; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Esslingen (district), district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter (Neckar), Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It i ...
on suspicion of incitement to hatred and the use of signs of anti-constitutional organizations.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bavarian state election, 2023 2023 elections in Germany October 2023 in Germany
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...