The 2017 Lower Saxony state election was held on 15 October 2017 to elect the 18th Landtag of Lower Saxony. 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

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 led by Minister-President Stephan Weil was defeated. Though the SPD became the largest party in the Landtag largely fueled by the personal popularity of Weil, their gains were offset by losses for the Greens, depriving the government of its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Weil continued as Minister-President. This was the last election, state or federal, in which the SPD gained seats or increased their share of the popular vote until the

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

and

2021 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election The 2021 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election was held on 26 September 2021 to elect the 8th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The incumbent government is a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led ...

which both took place on the same day in September 2021.

Background

Following the 2013 state election, a red-green coalition between the SPD and Greens was formed, holding a one-seat majority in the Landtag. After Green parliamentarian

Elke Twesten Elke Twesten (born July 7, 1963 in Scheeßel) is a German politician for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU in Lower Saxony who switched parties from the Alliance 90/The Greens in 2017. Career Twesten previously worked in the Hambu ...

controversially defected to the CDU on 4 August 2017, the coalition lost its majority, which prompted Minister-President Stephan Weil to schedule an early election for 15 October. The Landtag was officially dissolved on 21 August after 135 of 137 parliamentarians voted in favor, with 91 votes required for its dissolution.

Electoral system

The Landtag of Lower Saxony is elected using

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...

. Its minimum size is 135 seats. Of these, 87 are elected in single-member constituencies, and the remainder are determined by party lists. Voters have two votes: the "first vote" for candidates within each individual constituency, and the "second vote" for party lists. There is an electoral threshold of 5% of second vote to qualify for seats. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method, with additional overhang and

leveling seat Leveling seats ( da, tillægsmandat, sv, utjämningsmandat, no, utjevningsmandater, is, jöfnunarsæti, german: Ausgleichsmandat), commonly known also as adjustment seats, are an election mechanism employed for many years by all Nordic countrie ...

s provided to ensure proportionality. The normal term of the Landtag is 5 years.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 17th Landtag of Lower Saxony.

Opinion polling

Results

Government formation

Neither the incumbent red-green coalition between the SPD and Greens nor the black-yellow opposition of the CDU and FDP secured a majority of seats in the election. Because the FDP ruled out the possibility of 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 ...

(between the SPD, FDP, and Greens) and the Greens ruled out a Jamaica coalition (between the CDU, Greens, and FDP), the SPD and CDU subsequently agreed to start negotiations to form a

. On 16 November, the SPD and CDU agreed to form a government.

References

External links

Election information from the state returning officer in Lower Saxony
{{2017 elections in Germany 2017 elections in Germany

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

October 2017 events in Germany