The 2005 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 20 February 2005 to elect the members of the

Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein The Schleswig-Holstein Landtag is the state parliament of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It convenes in the state's capital Kiel and currently consists of 69 members of five parties. The current majority consists of coalition of the ...

. 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 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 ...

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 ...

Heide Simonis Heide Simonis (; born 4 July 1943 in Bonn as Heide Steinhardt) is a German Author and Politician. She is a member of the SPD. From 1993 to 2005 she served as the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein. She was the first woman to serve as head ...

was defeated. After a failed attempt to invest a minority SPD–Green government supported by the

South Schleswig Voters' Association da, Sydslesvigsk Vælgerforening frr, Söödschlaswiksche Wäälerferbånd , logo = Südschleswigscher Wählerverband, Logo.svg , logo_size = 165px , chairman = Christian Dirschauer , leader1_title = Vice Chairmen ...

(SSW), the SPD agreed to join 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). CDU leader

Peter Harry Carstensen Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947) is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. From 2005 to 2012 he was Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as ...

was subsequently elected Minister-President.

Campaign and issues

Surveys before the election indicated that most voters considered high unemployment in Germany and Schleswig-Holstein to be the key issue of the campaign. Pre-election polls indicated that the personal popularity of

was still high, though, and that the SPD–Green coalition had the support of a plurality of voters. However, the unpopularity of the federal SPD and the

Hartz IV reforms Hartz is a surname, and may refer to: * Donna Hartz, Aboriginal Australian midwife and academic * Harris Hartz (born 1947), U.S. federal judge * Harry Hartz (1896—1974), U.S. racecar driver * Jim Hartz (born 1940), U.S. television personali ...

appeared to have taken a toll.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - , colspan=8, 2005 Schleswig-Holstein state election - composition chart

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 576,095 , align= 40.2 , align= 5.0 , align= 30 , align= 3 , align= 43.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 554,879 , align= 38.7 , align= 4.4 , align= 29 , align= 12 , align= 42.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 94,935 , align= 6.6 , align= 1.0 , align= 4 , align= 3 , align= 5.8 , - , 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= 89,387 , align= 6.2 , align= 0.0 , align= 4 , align= 1 , align= 5.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SSW) , align= 51,920 , align= 3.6 , align= 0.5 , align= 2 , align= 1 , align= 2.9 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , National Democratic Party (NPD) , align= 27,676 , align= 1.9 , align= 0.9 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 39,913 , align= 2.8 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 1,434,805 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 69 ! align= 20 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 66.5 ! align= 3.0 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Outcome

After the election, the SPD–Green coalition no longer commanded a majority of the Landtag. The SSW announced that although it would not enter a coalition, it saw more common ground with the SPD than the CDU. Minister-President Simonis proceeded to form an SPD–Green coalition based on an agreement with the SSW backing it. On 17 March, the vote to invest the government failed, with the secret ballot tying 34–34. It is not known who abstained, though it is widely believed to have been a representative of the SPD. Since the coalition had failed, the SPD was forced to negotiate a grand coalition agreement with the CDU, capitulating to the CDU's demand that CDU leader Peter Harry Carstensen replace Simonis as Minister-President.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schleswig-Holstein State Election, 2005 Elections in Schleswig-Holstein 2005 elections in Germany February 2005 events in Europe