The 2008 Bavarian state election was held on 28 September 2008 to elect the members of the

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 f ...

. The result was a historic defeat for the Christian Social Union (CSU), which had governed with a majority uninterrupted since 1962, and had won over 60% of the vote in the 2003 election. Despite polling suggesting that the party would retain its majority with losses, it suffered a 17% swing and came up two seats short of a majority, its worst result since 1954. Minister-President and CSU leader

Günther Beckstein Günther Beckstein () (born 23 November 1943) is a German CSU politician from Bavaria and was the 17th Minister President of Bavaria from 9 October 2007 to 27 October 2008. He is well known for his outspoken views on law and order. Biography B ...

subsequently resigned from both posts, and the Landtag elected

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...

as his successor after the CSU and Free Democratic Party (FDP) came to a coalition agreement. The

Free Voters of Bavaria The Free Voters of Bavaria (German: ''Freie Wähler Bayern'') is a conservative political party in Bavaria. It has served as part of the governing coalition there since the 2018 state election under the leading Christian Social Union. The term ...

entered the Landtag for the first time with 10% of the vote; the FDP also won seats for the first time in 14 years. The Left competed in its first Bavarian election, recording a modest result of 4.3%, but failing to win any seats.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 15th Landtag of Bavaria.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Social Union (CSU) , align= 4,603,960 , align= 43.4 , align= 17.3 , align= 92 , align= 32 , align= 49.2 , - , 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 For ...

(SPD) , align= 1,972,437 , align= 18.6 , align= 1.0 , align= 39 , align= 2 , align= 20.9 , - , bgcolor=#007E82, , align=left ,

(FW) , align= 1,085,896 , align= 10.2 , align= 6.2 , align= 21 , align= 21 , align= 11.5 , - , 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= 999,111 , align= 9.4 , align= 1.7 , align= 19 , align= 4 , align= 10.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 847,227 , align= 8.0 , align= 5.4 , align= 16 , align= 16 , align= 8.6 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Left (Linke) , align= 461,755 , align= 4.3 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Ecological Democratic Party The Ecological Democratic Party (german: Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei, ÖDP) is a 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 ...

(ÖDP) , align= 212,200 , align= 2.0 , align= 0.0 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Republicans (REP) , align= 146,073 , align= 1.4 , align= 0.9 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , National Democratic Party (NPD) , align= 123,399 , align= 1.2 , align= 1.2 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=#386ABC, , align=left ,

Bavaria Party The Bavaria Party (german: Bayernpartei, BP) is an autonomist, regionalist and conservative political party in the state of Bavaria, Germany. The party was founded in 1946, describes itself as patriotic Bavarian and advocates Bavarian independence ...

(BP) , align= 116,464 , align= 1.1 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , , align=left , Pensioners' Party (RRP) , align= 19,760 , align= 0.2 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , , align=left , The Violets (Violetten) , align= 15,465 , align= 0.1 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , , align=left , Citizens' Bloc (BB) , align= 7,306 , align= 0.1 , align= 0.0 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , , align=left ,

Civil Rights Movement Solidarity Civil may refer to: * Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights * Civil disobedience *Civil engineering * Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a m ...

(BüSo) , align= 1,222 , align= 0.0 , align= 0.1 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 10,612,275 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 187 ! align= 7 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 58.1 ! align= 1.0 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Notes

References

External links

Official results

Article
by

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

{{Bavaria state elections 2008 elections in Germany

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...