The 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election was held on 27 March 2011 to elect the members of the 14th

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the diet of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 154 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2021 election was a coalition of the All ...

. The incumbent

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of the Christian Democratic Union and Free Democratic Party 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. It ...

Stefan Mappus Stefan Mappus (born 4 April 1966) is a former German politician from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 8th Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg 2010–2011 and chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg 2009–2011 ...

lost its majority.

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 ...

achieved their best result in a state election up to this point at 24%, and became the second largest party in the Landtag. They subsequently formed a coalition with 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 Greens leader

Winfried Kretschmann Winfried Kretschmann (born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President of G ...

was elected Minister-President. He became the first Green politician to serve as a state head of government in Germany.

Campaign and issues

The Baden-Württemberg election was considered to have significant ramifications for Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

; the state had been a CDU stronghold for almost 60 years.

Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart 21 Stuttgart 21 is a railway and urban development project in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded railway and the Main Line for Europe (Paris—Vienna) within the framework of the Trans-European Networks. ...

was a major election issue. Work for this project, that sets out to transform the Stuttgart Main Station from a

terminus station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

into a subterranean non-terminus station, was started in the summer of 2010 despite massive protests by the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

population. The main reasons for the protests are the questionable necessity of the transformation, i.e. the disproportionate costs (between 4 and 5 billion

Euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

) in relation to the (small) gains in travel time (the current station is a functioning station with 90% of the passengers ending their journey here anyway), the dismantling and partial destruction of the old station building (generally considered to be

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

), the destruction of some of the inner-city's park ("Schlossgarten"), the geological risks posed by the tunnels that would have to be drilled into the Stuttgart ground, endangering Europe's second largest

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. Tra ...

sources and

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

s, and the danger of some of the buildings above the tunnels collapsing. Transparent government became an issue due to the controversy about

. The CDU government of

supported of the project. The government opposed demonstrations and

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

campaigns against the project, which were broken up by force, with police using tear gas and water cannons on protestors. Mappus was considered to have linked his political fate to the success or failure of the project. The SPD leadership also supported Stuttgart 21, but since early 2010 called for a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the issue "to pacify the city" and end the ongoing protests. The party did not take a clear stance on the issue due to opposition of the project from much of its membership. Opposition to

led to "unprecedented popularity" for the

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 ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

and a major rise in the polls. As a coalition partner of the CDU in the Mappus government, the FDP also supported Stuttgart 21. The party was criticized for its acceptance of the violent force used against demonstrators in the late summer of 2010.

Nuclear power

Following the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

, Chancellor

announced the temporary shutdown of Germany's seven nuclear power stations built before 1980. She also stated that she was committed to total withdrawal from nuclear power sooner than the revisited nuclear exit plan dates.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Baden-Württemberg.

Opinion polling

Results

, - , colspan="8" , Landtag BW 2011

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 1,943,912 , align= 39.0 , align= 5.2 , align= 60 , align= 9 , align= 43.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(Grüne) , align= 1,206,182 , align= 24.2 , align= 12.5 , align= 36 , align= 19 , align= 26.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 1,152,594 , align= 23.1 , align= 2.1 , align= 35 , align= 3 , align= 25.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 262,784 , align= 5.3 , align= 5.4 , align= 7 , align= 8 , align= 5.1 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Left (Linke) , align= 139,700 , align= 2.8 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...

(Piraten) , align= 103,618 , align= 2.1 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Republicans (REP) , align= 56,723 , align= 1.1 , align= 1.4 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 118,206 , align= 2.4 , align= 0.2 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 4,983,719 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 138 ! align= 1 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 66.2 ! align= 12.8 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Post-election

After the loss, outgoing Minister-President

announced his resignation as chairman of the Christian Democratic Union in

. Federal

leader

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

insisted that

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

should call for new elections after the defeat of the Christian Democratic Union in Baden-Württemberg. On 27 April 2011,

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 ...

and the

announced that they had finalized their coalition agreement.

and Social Democratic Party leader Nils Schmid presented an 83-page document titled ''The Change Begins''. The only minister named was Nils Schmid, who became Deputy

and "super-minister" for finance and the economy. Other than Schmid, the coalition announced which parties were to receive each

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

, but did not name appointees. The Social Democrats acquired the majority of the ministerial positions, but the Greens had a majority in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. The Greens obtained the ministries of the environment, transportation, science, rural areas, consumer protection and a ministry for civil society. The Social Democrats got the ministries of the economy, finance, justice, labour, schools, welfare, and the interior. As part of the coalition agreement, the red-green alliance agreed to organize a

regarding

. They also agreed on "radical changes" to the education system and transport policy, and to accelerate the phasing out of nuclear power. Hermann Gröhe, the secretary general of the CDU, "condemned" the

coalition agreement A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. On 12 May 2011,

was sworn in as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg. Kretschmann became the first Minister-President in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

from the Greens. In the Landtag vote for Minister-President, Kretschmann received at least two votes from the opposition.

Notes

References

External links

Baden-Württemberg Statistical Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baden-Wurttemberg state election, 2011 2011 elections in Germany

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...