The 2002 Saxony-Anhalt state election was held on 21 April 2002 to elect the members of the 4th

Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt The Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt is the parliament of the Germany, German States of Germany, federal state Saxony-Anhalt. It convenes in Magdeburg and currently consists of 97 members of six parties. The current majority is a coalition of the Social ...

. The incumbent

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) minority government led by

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Reinhard Höppner Reinhard Höppner (2 December 1948 – 9 June 2014) was a German politician ( SPD) and writer. Höppner held a Dr. rer. nat. in mathematics. In 1990, in the first (and last) free election in the assembly's history, he was elected a member of th ...

was defeated. The SPD fell to third place, while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) moved into first. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and CDU leader Wolfgang Böhmer was elected Minister-President.

Background

After both the 1994 and 1998 state elections, the SPD formed a minority government with the external support of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). This marked the first time the PDS had been involved in determining government in a German state, and was a unique arrangement, dubbed the "Magdeburg model" after the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. In Germany, governments are typically coalition governments, in which the parties which support the government take part in cabinet and hold a majority of seats between them. However, the SPD/PDS arrangement functioned on a model of "tolerance", in which the PDS remained outside cabinet and abstained from the vote for Minister-President, rather than voting in favour, allowing the SPD to form a minority government. In 1994, this allowed the investment of an SPD–

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

minority government; in 1998, after the Greens lost their Landtag representation, the SPD governed alone.

Campaign and issues

At the time, Saxony-Anhalt was the "poorest" state of Germany, and that with the highest unemployment rate. The state election campaign was also influenced by the upcoming federal election. The

German People's Union The German People's Union (german: Deutsche Volksunion, DVU, also ''Liste D'') was a political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. Financially, it was l ...

, which won 12.9% of the vote and 12 seats in 1998, did not run in the election. This came after internal strife and the secession of the Freedom and Democracy People's Party (FDVP), which did run in the election.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 3rd Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 433,521 , align= 37.3 , align= 15.3 , align= 48 , align= 20 , align= 41.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) , align= 236,484 , align= 20.4 , align= 0.8 , align= 25 , align= 0 , align= 21.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 231,732 , align= 20.0 , align= 15.9 , align= 25 , align= 22 , align= 21.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 154,145 , align= 13.3 , align= 9.1 , align= 17 , align= 17 , align= 14.8 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=#63B8FF, , align=left ,

Party for a Rule of Law Offensive The Party for a Rule of Law Offensive, Rule of Law State Offensive Party,, Party for the Promotion of the Rule of Law, Law and Order Offensive Party, or Party of Law and Order Offensive (german: Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive),''Rechtsstaat'' i ...

(Schill party) , align= 52,589 , align= 4.5 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align= 22,696 , align= 2.0 , align= 1.2 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 29,818 , align= 2.6 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 1,160,985 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 115 ! align= 1 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 56.5 ! align= 15.0 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Outcome

The SPD suffered a major defeat, falling to third place behind both the CDU and PDS. The CDU became the largest party with 37% of the vote. The FDP achieved an unexpected victory with 13% of the vote. The

(Schill party) failed to win seats, despite polling suggesting they would narrowly enter the Landtag. While polls before the election indicated the SPD and PDS would likely retain a slim majority, the success of the FDP at the SPD's expense meant that the CDU and FDP held a comfortable majority between them. Thus, the PDS-backed SPD government no longer had the numbers to retain power. The CDU and FDP negotiated a coalition, with CDU leader Wolfgang Böhmer heading the new government. The election, which took place five months before the 2002 federal election, was a major defeat for the federal SPD–Green government, and weakened its standing in the Bundesrat.

Sources

The Federal Returning Officer
{{Saxony-Anhalt state elections 2002 2002 elections in Germany