Bremen state election, 2015

Bremen state election, 2015

May 10, 2015

All 83 seats of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen 42 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Jens Böhrnsen Elisabeth Motschmann Karoline Linnert Party SPD CDU Green Last election 38.6% 20.4% 22.5% Seats before 36 20 21 Seats won 29 20 14 Seat change 7 0 7 Percentage 32.9% 22.4% 15.1% Swing 5.7% 2.0% 7.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kristina Vogt Lencke Steiner Christian Schäfer Party Left FDP AfD Last election 5.6% 2.4% N/A Seats before 5 0 N/A Seats won 8 6 5 Seat change 3 6 5 Percentage 9.5% 6.5% 5.5% Swing 3.9% 4.1% N/A   Seventh party   Leader Jan Timke Party BIW Last election 3.7% Seats before 1 Seats won 1 Seat change 0 Percentage 3.2% Swing 0.5%

Mayor before election Jens Böhrnsen SPD Elected Mayor Carsten Sieling SPD

A Bremen state election were held on May 10, 2015,^[1] to elect the Bürgerschaft (state legislature) as well as the Bremische Stadtbürgerschaft and the Stadtverordnetenversammlung Bremerhaven (city legislatures).^[2]

Electoral system

Since the 2011 elections, Bremen has a new electoral system. Each voter may distribute five votes among party lists or candidate inscribed in them. (Cumulative voting and Panachage).^[3]

The state of Bremen consists of two cities, Bremen and Bremerhaven. Of the 83 members of the state legislature, 68 are elected in Bremen, 15 in Bremerhaven. To be allocated seats from either Bremen or Bremerhaven a party must receive 5% of the vote or more in the respective city. In Bremen (but not in Bremerhaven), the same ballot is used to determine the composition of the city legislature, also consisting of 68 members who in most cases are the same as Bremen's representatives in the state legislature. Differences may, however, arise since EU citizens resident in Bremen who are not also German citizens may vote in city legislature elections but not in state legislature elections.^[4] In the 2003 elections, the 2007 elections, and the current election, this led to one or more of Bremen's seats being allocated to different candidates in the state legislature and in the city legislature.

The state government (Senate), the head of state government (President of the Senate), and the heads of the city governments (Mayor) are later elected by the respective legislatures.

Suffrage

All Germans who have lived in Bremen for at least three months prior to the election are eligible to vote. As of the last election, the voting age is 16, the eligibility age 18. Non-German EU citizens resident in Bremen may vote in city legislature elections but not in state legislature elections which for German citizens in Bremen (but not in Bremerhaven) happen with the same votes on the same ballot.

Pre-election standings

Following the election in 2011, the Social Democrats and Greens continued their coalition government from the previous legislative period. The composition changed several times since the last election following the death of Renate Möbius, Martin Korol took her place in the SPD caucus. He later left the party and sat as an independent before joining the Citizens in Rage. For the CDU, Oğuzhan Yazıcı replaced Elisabeth Motschmann when she was elected to the Bundestag. There were personnel changes in the caucus of Alliance '90/The Greens as well.

Opinion polls

Results

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 Summary of the 2015 Parliament of Bremen election results

Party		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD	383,509	32.8	3.8	29	7
	Christian Democratic Union Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands – CDU	261,929	22.4	2.0	20	8
	Alliance '90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	176,807	15.1	7.4	14	7
	Left Die Linke	111.485	9.5	3.9	8	3
	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP	76,754	6.5	4.1	6	6
	Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland – AfD	64,368	5.5	N/A	5	N/A
	Citizens in Rage Bürger in Wut – BIW	37,759	3.2	0.5	1	0
	Die PARTEI Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative	21,888	1.9	N/A	0	N/A
	Pirate Party Germany Piratenpartei Deutschland	17,773	1.5	0.4	0	0
	Human Environment Animal Protection Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz	13,910	1.2	N/A	0	N/A
	National Democratic Party of Germany Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands - NPD	2,170	0.2	1.4	0	0
Turnout		1,168,352	50.2	5.3
Electorate		2,327,394	100.00

Provisional results; the AfD did not reach the 5% threshold in Bremerhaven (and will hence only receive seats for votes from Bremen), the BIW did not reach the threshold in Bremen (and will only receive one seat in Bremerhaven, none in Bremen).^[6][7]

Aftermath

Analysts expressed surprise about the low turnout of just 50.1% (the lowest since 1945 in state legislature elections in a West German state) and concern about a particularly low turnout in poor areas which was seen as a hint at the disillusionment of the poor with politics.^[8] The unexpectedly meager result of the SPD prompted the President of the Senate (head of the state government) and Mayor (head of the city government), Jens Böhrnsen, to resign. Since his governing coalition (the SPD and the Greens) still received a majority of seats, it was, however, expected that the coalition would continue with a new head of government.^[9]

References

Elections and referendums in Bremen
Elections	1919 1920 1921 1923 1924 1927 1930 1933 1946 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Referendums	1921 1932