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2009 German federal election

(Redirected from German federal election, 2009)

Federal elections were held in Germany on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the 17th Bundestag.[1]

2009 German federal election
← 2005 27 September 2009 (2009-09-27) 2013 →
All 622 seats in the Bundestag, including 24 overhang seats
312 seats needed for a majority
Registered62,168,489 (Increase 0.5%)
Turnout70.8% (Decrease 6.9pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Angela Merkel 2009a (cropped).jpg
Frank-Walter Steinmeier 20090902-DSCF9761.jpg
Westerwelle hamm 2009 ankunft.jpg
Candidate Angela Merkel Frank-Walter Steinmeier Guido Westerwelle
Party CDU/CSU SPD FDP
Last election 35.2%, 226 seats 34.2%, 222 seats 9.8%, 61 seats
Seats won 239 146 93
Seat change Increase 13 Decrease 76 Increase 32
Popular vote 14,658,515 9,990,488 6,316,080
Percentage 33.8% 23.0% 14.6%
Swing Decrease 1.4pp Decrease 11.2pp Increase 4.8pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
German Left leadership 2009.jpg
German Greens leadership 2009.jpg
Candidate Gregor Gysi &
Oskar Lafontaine 		Jürgen Trittin &
Renate Künast
Party Left Greens
Last election 8.7%, 54 seats 8.1%, 51 seats
Seats won 76 68
Seat change Increase 22 Increase 17
Popular vote 5,155,933 4,643,272
Percentage 11.9% 10.7%
Swing Increase 3.2pp Increase 2.6pp
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows party list winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.
Government before election

First Merkel cabinet
CDU/CSU–SPD

Government after election

Second Merkel cabinet
CDU/CSU–FDP

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won the election, and the three parties formed a new centre-right government with Angela Merkel as chancellor. While CDU/CSU's share of votes decreased slightly, it was more than compensated by the gains of their "desired coalition partner", the liberal FDP, that won the strongest result in its history.

CDU and CSU's former partner in the "Grand coalition", the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, conceded defeat[2] after dropping by more than 11 percentage points, receiving its hitherto worst result since the end of the Second World War (only undercut in 2017).

At 69.8 percent, the voter turnout was the lowest in a German federal election since 1949.

Campaign

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Since the 2005 election, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had governed in a grand coalition with the SPD. However, it was her stated goal to win a majority for CDU/CSU and FDP (the CDU/CSU's traditional coalition partner) in 2009.

Foreign minister and Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) was formally nominated as his party's chancellor-candidate at a convention on 18 October 2008.[3] He aimed to form a government in which the SPD was the strongest party, but which also excluded the left-socialist party The Left.[4]

The election campaign was considered exceptionally boring,[5] which may be attributable to a perceived lack of charisma on the part of the leaders of the CDU and SPD.[6] Another reason pointed to for the sedate campaign is that the CDU and SPD both defended the record of their grand coalition, and facing the possibility of having to continue the grand coalition in a friendly manner.[7] Merkel was content with the low-key campaign style, which was largely seen as benefiting her party because of her high approval ratings.[8]

CDU candidate Vera Lengsfeld released a campaign poster featuring herself and Merkel in a way that emphasised their cleavage.[9] The poster bore the slogan "We have more to offer" (German: "Wir haben mehr zu bieten").[10]

On 23 September 2009, four days before the federal elections, German police raided the Berlin headquarters of the National Democratic Party of Germany NPD to investigate claims that letters sent from the NPD to politicians from immigrant backgrounds incited racial hatred. The NPD leader in Berlin defended the letters saying that "As part of a democracy, we're entitled to say if something doesn't suit us in this country."[11][12][13][14]

The federal election was the final and most important election in what is called a Superwahljahr (super election year) in Germany. In addition to the election of a new Bundestag, also scheduled for 2009 were the election to the European Parliament on 7 June, seven local elections on the same day, five state elections and an additional local election in August and September and the election of the president of Germany by the Federal Assembly on 23 May.

Opinion polls

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Average trend line of poll results from 18 September 2005 to 27 September 2009 with each line corresponding to a political party.
  CDU/CSU
  SPD
  FDP
  LINKE
  GRÜNE

The CDU/CSU and FDP, with an average vote share of around 50% in pre-election polling during the weeks before the election, were clearly ahead of the other traditional coalition partners in Germany, SPD and the Greens.[15]

Institute Date CDU/CSU SPD Greens FDP The Left Others
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[16] 18 Sept 36% 25% 10% 13% 11% 5%
Forsa 16 Sept 37% 24% 11% 12% 10% 6%
Allensbach 16 Sept 36% 22.5% 12% 12.5% 12% 6%
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[16] 11 Sept 36% 23% 11% 14% 11% 5%
Infratest dimap[16] 10 Sept 35% 23% 12% 14% 12% 4%
Allensbach[17] 9 Sept 35% 22.5% 13% 13% 11.5% 5%
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen[16] 4 Sept 37% 23% 11% 15% 10% 4%
Emnid[16] 3 Sept 34% 26% 11% 14% 11% 4%
INFO GmbH[18] 2 Sept 35% 23% 12% 14% 11% 4%
Allensbach[16] 1 Sept 35.5% 23% 13.5% 14% 9.5% 4.5%
GMS[16] 24 Aug 37% 23% 13% 13% 9% 5%

Results

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For results by state and constituency, see Results of the 2009 German federal election.
See also: List of members of the 17th Bundestag
 
Party list election results by state: blue denotes states where CDU/CSU had the plurality of votes; purple denotes states where Die Linke had the plurality of votes; and pink denotes states where the SPD had the plurality of votes
 
Party list results by constituency

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) were able to form a centre-right government, with Angela Merkel of the CDU continuing as the chancellor and the leader of the FDP, Guido Westerwelle, becoming foreign minister and vice-chancellor.[19]

The CDU/CSU received a slightly lower proportion than in the previous election, with the Bavarian CSU receiving its lowest vote share in decades.[20] Overall, the CDU/CSU had their worst vote share in 60 years.[21] In contrast, their preferred coalition partner, the liberal FDP, gained nearly 5% points to give it 14.6% of the vote, the best result of its history. The big loser of the election was the SPD, which received its worst result ever in a federal election, receiving only 23% of the total party vote and suffering the biggest percentage loss of any party in German federal election history in 60 years. The two other parties represented in the Bundestag, the Left and the Greens, both made large gains and received the highest vote share of their respective histories. For the first time, The Left won constituency seats outside its traditional stronghold of East Berlin. As a result of the losses by the SPD and the gains by the FDP, the alliance of the CDU/CSU and FDP received an outright majority of seats, ensuring that Angela Merkel would continue as chancellor.

Had the CDU/CSU and FDP failed to win a majority of seats, possible alternative coalitions may have included a continuation of the grand coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD. A traffic light coalition (SPD–FDP–Greens) was specifically ruled out by FDP leader Guido Westerwelle.[22]

 
PartyParty-listConstituencyTotal
seats		+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Christian Democratic Union11,828,27727.272113,856,67432.04173194+14
Social Democratic Party9,990,48823.038212,079,75827.9364146−76
Free Democratic Party6,316,08014.56934,076,4969.43093+32
The Left5,155,93311.89604,791,12411.081676+22
Alliance 90/The Greens4,643,27210.71673,977,1259.20168+17
Christian Social Union2,830,2386.5303,191,0007.384545−1
Pirate Party Germany847,8701.95046,7700.1100New
National Democratic Party635,5251.470768,4421.78000
Human Environment Animal Protection Party230,8720.53016,8870.04000
The Republicans193,3960.45030,0610.07000
Ecological Democratic Party132,2490.300105,6530.24000
Family Party120,7180.28017,8480.04000
Alliance 21/RRP [de]100,6050.23037,9460.0900New
Pensioner Party Germany [de]56,3990.1300New
Bavaria Party48,3110.11032,3240.07000
German People's Union45,7520.11000
Party of Bible-abiding Christians40,3700.09012,0520.03000
Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität38,7060.09034,8940.08000
The Violets31,9570.0705,7940.01000
Marxist–Leninist Party29,2610.07017,5120.04000
Alliance for Germany [de]23,0150.0502,5500.01000
Free Voters11,2430.0300New
Christian Centre6,8260.02000
Centre Party6,0870.0103690.00000
Party for Social Equality2,9570.01000
Alliance of the Centre [de]2,8890.0103960.0000New
German Communist Party1,8940.0009290.00000
Free Union [de]6,1210.0100New
Independents and voter groups139,2750.32000
Total43,371,190100.0032343,248,000100.00299622+8
Valid votes43,371,19098.5643,248,00098.28
Invalid/blank votes634,3851.44757,5751.72
Total votes44,005,575100.0044,005,575100.00
Registered voters/turnout62,168,48970.7862,168,48970.78
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

Results by state

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Second Vote ("Zweitstimme", or votes for party list)

State[23] results in % CDU/CSU SPD FDP LINKE GRÜNE all others
  Baden-Württemberg 34.5 19.3 18.8 7.2 13.9 6.3
  Bavaria 42.6 16.8 14.7 6.5 10.8 8.6
  Berlin 22.8 20.2 11.5 20.2 17.4 7.9
  Brandenburg 23.6 25.1 9.3 28.5 6.1 7.4
  Bremen 23.9 30.3 10.6 14.2 15.4 5.6
  Hamburg 27.9 27.4 13.2 11.2 15.6 4.7
  Hesse 32.2 25.6 16.6 8.5 12.0 5.1
  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 33.2 16.6 9.8 29.0 5.5 5.9
  Lower Saxony 33.2 29.3 13.3 8.6 10.7 4.9
  North Rhine-Westphalia 33.1 28.5 14.9 8.4 10.1 5.0
  Rhineland-Palatinate 35.0 23.8 16.6 9.4 9.7 5.5
  Saarland 30.7 24.7 11.9 21.2 6.8 4.7
  Saxony 35.6 14.6 13.3 24.5 6.7 5.3
  Saxony-Anhalt 30.1 16.9 10.3 32.4 5.1 5.2
  Schleswig-Holstein 32.2 26.8 16.3 7.9 12.7 4.1
  Thuringia 31.2 17.6 9.8 28.8 6.0 6.6
  •  
    CDU-CSU vote
  •  
    SPD vote
  •  
    FDP vote
  •  
    Linke vote
  •  
    Grüne vote
  •  
    PIRATEN vote

Constituency seats

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State Total
seats 		Seats won
CDU SPD CSU Linke Grüne
Baden-Württemberg 38 37 1
Bavaria 45 45
Berlin 12 5 2 4 1
Brandenburg 10 1 5 4
Bremen 2 2
Hamburg 6 3 3
Hesse 21 15 6
Lower Saxony 30 16 14
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 7 6 1
North Rhine-Westphalia 64 37 27
Rhineland-Palatinate 15 13 2
Saarland 4 4
Saxony 16 16
Saxony-Anhalt 9 4 5
Schleswig-Holstein 11 9 2
Thuringia 9 7 2
Total 299 173 64 45 16 1

List seats

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State Total
seats 		Seats won
FDP SPD Grüne Linke CDU
Baden-Württemberg 46 15 14 11 6
Bavaria 46 14 16 10 6
Berlin 11 3 3 3 1 1
Brandenburg 9 2 1 2 4
Bremen 4 1 1 1 1
Hamburg 7 2 1 2 1 1
Hesse 24 8 6 6 4
Lower Saxony 32 9 5 7 6 5
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 7 1 2 1 3
North Rhine-Westphalia 65 20 12 14 11 8
Rhineland-Palatinate 17 5 6 3 3
Saarland 6 1 2 1 2
Saxony 19 4 5 2 8
Saxony-Anhalt 8 2 3 1 1 1
Schleswig-Holstein 13 4 4 3 2
Thuringia 9 2 3 1 3
Total 323 93 82 67 60 21

Further reading

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  • Faas, Thorsten (2010). "The German Federal Election of 2009: Sprouting Coalitions, Drooping Social Democrats". West European Politics. 33 (4): 894–903. doi:10.1080/01402381003794670. S2CID 154171892.
  • Langenbacher, Eric, ed. (2011). Between Left and Right: The 2009 Bundestag Elections and the Transformation of the German Party System. New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0-85745-222-1. Scholarly studies.
  • Reher, Stefanie. "The effect of congruence in policy priorities on electoral participation." Electoral Studies 36 (2014): 158–172. based on 2009 polls; online

Notes

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2009 Germany Bundestagswahl.
  1. ^ "Der Wahltermin für die Bundestagswahl 2009". Der Bundeswahlleiter. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  2. ^ "Merkel's rival concedes defeat in German election". The Telegraph. London. 27 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  3. ^ "Frank-Walter Steinmeier zum SPD-Kanzlerkandidaten gewählt". Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands. 18 October 2008. Archived from the original on 19 November 2008.
  4. ^ https://cn.reuters.com/article/instant-article/idUSTRE58M2OS20090923%7Cdate=March[permanent dead link‍] 2012}
  5. ^ "Apathy in Germany: Record Low Voter Turnout Expected in National Election". Der Spiegel. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  6. ^ "'Merkel factor' could decide German vote". BBC News. 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  7. ^ "The left in the German elections". Socialist Worker Online. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  8. ^ Chu, Henry (27 September 2009). "Many Germans may sit out this vote". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Bosom pals pep up German politics". 12 August 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  10. ^ "German Politician Uses Merkel's Cleavage to Woo Voters". Der Spiegel. 11 August 2009. Archived from the original on 21 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  11. ^ "German 'race hate' letters probed". BBC News. 23 September 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  12. ^ "NPD sends offensive letter to candidates with Turkish background". Deutsche Welle. 22 September 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Neo-Nazis tell immigrants to 'go home'". Agence France-Presse. 23 September 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2015. Alt URL
  14. ^ "Anger results after German neo-Nazis tell immigrant candidates to 'go home'". Canada.com. 22 September 2009. Archived from the original on 7 November 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Opinion Poll Tracker Bundestagswahl 2009 Germany's Federal Election". Alexej Behnisch. 17 July 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  16. ^ Allensbach-Umfrage: Vorsprung für Schwarz-Gelb schrumpft. Archived 30 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine FAZ.NET, 9 September 2009
  17. ^ "Merkel's FDP Coalition Partner Approves Four-Year Policy Plan". Bloomberg. 25 October 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  18. ^ "Boost for the FDP: The German Election's Biggest Winner". Der Spiegel Online. 28 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  19. ^ "A new buzz for Germany". The Economist. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  20. ^ "SPIEGEL Interview With FDP Leader Westerwelle: 'I Consider a Coalition With the SPD and Greens Out of the Question'". Der Spiegel. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  21. ^ "The Federal Returning Officer". Archived from the original on 15 January 2016.

Further reading

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  • Hansen, Michael A., and Jonathan Olsen. "Rhapsody in Beige: The Impact of SPD Candidate Evaluations on Vote Choice in the 2009, 2013, and 2017 Federal Elections." German Politics 29.2 (2020): 223–243. online
  • Schoen, Harald. "Merely a referendum on Chancellor Merkel? Parties, issues and candidates in the 2009 German federal election." German Politics 20.1 (2011): 92–106.
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