The 2001 Berlin state election was held on 21 October 2001 to elect the members of the 15th

Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (House of Deputies) () is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchne ...

. Prior to the election,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Klaus Wowereit Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29 ...

had led a minority government of 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 For ...

(SPD) and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

since June, which had replaced a coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and SPD which collapsed in June. The SPD–Green government made gains, but remained short of a majority. The SPD first sought to form a

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...

with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens, but were unsuccessful. They subsequently agreed to a government with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin.

Issues and campaign

The 2001 election was an early election. In June 2001, the grand coalition under Mayor

Eberhard Diepgen Eberhard Diepgen (born 13 November 1941) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and again as Mayor of (united) Berlin, from 1991 until 2001, as member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). E ...

(CDU) broke down following a scandal involving CDU's leader in the

, . Landowsky, who served as the CEO of a public

mortgage bank Mortgage bank is a bank that specializes in originating and/or servicing mortgage loans. In the United States, a mortgage bank is a state-licensed banking entity that makes mortgage loans directly to consumers. The difference between a mortgage b ...

(later

Landesbank Berlin Holding Landesbank Berlin Holding (formerly ''Bankgesellschaft Berlin''; ) is a large commercial bank based in Berlin, Germany. It is the holding company of the Berliner Sparkasse and Landesbank. In 2007, LBB was taken over by the Deutscher Sparkassen- ...

), had financed a risky deal between two men who were donors to the local CDU branch. The cost the city several billion euros. The SPD subsequently left the coalition, which had governed Berlin since 1990, and formed an interim minority government with the Greens supported by the PDS.

became Mayor after a

constructive vote of no confidence The constructive vote of no confidence (german: konstruktives Misstrauensvotum, es, moción de censura constructiva) is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if t ...

against Diepgen on 15 June. The House of Deputies then voted to dissolve itself, triggering a new election. The campaign was strongly influenced by the bad state of the public finances and the bank scandal. The CDU nominated 35-year-old

Frank Steffel Frank Steffel (born 2 March 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Party (CDU). Early life and education Born in West Berlin, Steffel grew up in Berlin's Frohnau district. Political car ...

as their top candidate, and played on fears of potential PDS involvement in government. They also focused on security issues, especially after

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The regional broadcaster

Sender Freies Berlin Sender Freies Berlin (; abbreviated SFB ; ) was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003. On 1 May 2003 it merged with Ostde ...

accompanied the election campaign on its website with a "Wahltest" app, marking the first time in Germany that a

Voting Advice Application A voting advice application or voting aid application (VAA) or vote matcher or vote compass or election compass is a Web application that helps voters find a candidate or a party that stands closest to their preferences. VAAs are a new phenomenon ...

was used.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 481,772 , align= 29.7 , align= 7.3 , align= 44 , align= 2 , align= 31.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 385,692 , align= 23.8 , align= 17.0 , align= 35 , align= 41 , align= 24.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) , align= 366,292 , align= 22.6 , align= 4.9 , align= 33 , align= 0 , align= 23.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 160,953 , align= 9.9 , align= 7.7 , align= 15 , align= 15 , align= 10.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

(Grüne) , align= 148,066 , align= 9.1 , align= 0.8 , align= 14 , align= 4 , align= 9.9 , - ! colspan=8, , - , , align=left ,

The Grays – Gray Panthers The Grays – Gray Panthers () was a small German political party and interest group which existed between 1989 and 2008. The party was founded by former Die Grünen MP and activist Trude Unruh, having emerged from the Senior Citizens Protectio ...

(Graue) , align= 22,093 , align= 1.4 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Republicans (REP) , align= 21,836 , align= 1.3 , align= 1.4 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 36,634 , align= 2.3 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 1,623,338 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 141 ! align= 28 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 68.1 ! align= 2.6 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Sources

The Federal Returning Officer

Archived "Wahltest" Voting Advice Application for the Berlin State Elections 2001
used i
SFB Election Website
{{Berlin state elections State election, 2001 2001 elections in Germany 2001 in Berlin October 2001 events in Europe