2011 Berlin state election

Berlin state election, 2011

18 September 2011
All 141 seats plus 11 overhang seats of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin.
First party Second party Third party   Leader Klaus Wowereit Frank Henkel Renate Künast Party SPD CDU Greens Last election 30.8% 21.3% 13.1% Seats before 37 23 Seats won 48 39 30 Seat change -5 +2 +7 Popular vote 413,124 340,992 256,940 Percentage 28.3% 23.4% 17.6% Swing −2.5% +2.1% +4.5%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Harald Wolf Andreas Baum Party Left Pirates NPD Last election 13.3% Did not contest 2.5% Seats before 23 Did not contest 0 Seats won 20 15 0 Seat change -3 +15 ±0 Popular vote 170,829 129,795 31,243 Percentage 11.6% 8.9% 2.1% Swing −4.6% N/A −0.4%   Seventh party   Party FDP Seats before 13 Seats won 0 Seat change -13 Popular vote 26,916 Percentage 1.8% Swing -5.8%

The last Berlin state election was held on 18 September 2011, to elect members to the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Deputies) of Berlin. All 141 seats were up for election. Berlin was governed by a coalition between the Social Democratic Party and The Left at the time. Current mayor Klaus Wowereit was the favourite heading into Sunday's election.

The SPD won the most seats, 48, despite losing five. The Left also lost three seats, making a renewal of the two parties' red-red coalition impossible. The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) gained two seats to 39, putting them in second place, while the Greens gained seven to finish third, with 30. The Free Democratic Party lost three-quarters of its votes and all its seats. Meanwhile, the Pirate Party, in its first Berlin state election, won fifteen seats: the first time it had won election to a Landtag anywhere in Germany.

Issues and campaign

Christian Democratic Union

The Christian Democrats (CDU) considers safety on the Berlin U-Bahn an issue after a number of attacks on the property of the U-Bahn. The CDU was using the images from attacks with the word "Safe?". The postcards have since been recalled. The CDU has posted billboards with a photo of its top candidate that also shows figures that compare the number of police officers cut from the force by the Red-Red Coalition with the number of crimes committed on the city's buses and U-Bahn trains. Nils Diederich, a professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin, stated that this will not be much of an issue since there is a positive mood within the city.

Social Democratic Party

The Social Democrats (SPD) top candidate and mayor Klaus Wowereit stated, after "well-publicized attacks" in late winter and spring, that he plans to heighten security by increasing the number of police officers by 200 and lengthening the time video surveillance recordings are kept before being erased from 24 to 48 hours.

Post-election

Election results and analysis

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) representation was removed from the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin after they failed to reach the 5% threshold. This is the fifth time in 2011 in Germany that the Free Democrats failed to get obtain representation in a state parliament. They also lost representation in Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Baden-Württemberg and Hamburg are the only states in which they reached the 5% electoral threshold this year. The win in Berlin marks the 7th time out of seven elections in 2011 that the Social Democrats got into government.

Voting problems

On 21 September 2011, election officials found that the results of the Green Party and The Left were inadvertently swapped in the Lichtenberg district. Evrim Baba-Sommer of the Green Party will replace Karin Seidel-Kalmutzki of the Social Democratic Party.

On 22 September 2011, Norbert Kopp, the district mayor for Steglitz-Zehlendorf, confirmed at least 379 postal ballots had found their way into the bin of a block of flats. The ballots were properly sent to the Zehlendorf city hall and the votes could change a number of the local council seats. The police have started an investigation over the incident.

Coalition talks

Initially, the Social Democrats concentrated on forming a coalition with the Greens. However, on 5 October 2011, coalition talks between the SPD and the Greens broke down. The disagreement was about the extension of Bundesautobahn 100. The Green Party platform had insisted on not extending the Bundesautobahn 100. The Social Democrats offered a compromise to not go ahead with the 3.2 km extension A100 if the €420 million provided by the federal government could be invested in other transportation infrastructure projects. However, the federal government has denied the possibility of transferring the money to other projects. Green Party head Bettina Jarasch stated that “There was not really the will within the SPD to work together with us on a coalition” while the Berliner Zeitung wrote stating that "the left-wing of the SPD felt Wowereit and Müller had actually wanted to form a coalition with the CDU and had deliberately put the Greens in an impossible situation." Michael Müller, chairman of Berlin chapter of the Social Democratic Party, had "threatened to look towards the CDU" over the past weekend, because the Greens "stuck to their opposition to the motorway extension". Müller pointed out to the Greens "that the Red-Green coalition would only have a one-vote majority compared to the stable 10-vote majority which would be achieved in coalition with the CDU". Wolfgang Thierse, deputy Parliamentary group leader, stated "that he was surprised and a little disappointed at the breakdown of talks" and "Just as Red-Green would not have been heaven for Berlin, Red-Black would not be hell". Renate Künast, leader of the Berlin Chapter of the Green Party, stated that Klaus Wowereit "wanted a surrender, and no coalition".

The Social Democrats therefore continued talks with the Christian Democrats so that a grand coalition that will govern Berlin was finalized on 16 November 2011. According to the 100-page coalition agreement, Wowereit will continue as mayor. Also, each party receives four ministries: Social Democrats will be in charge of the Finance, City development/Environment, Education/Youth/Science, and Jobs/Integration/Women portfolios whereas the Christian Democrats will have Interior/Sports, Economy/Technology/Research, Health/Social, and Justice/Consumer protection. Disagreements between the two parties have been settled. There will be for example a "City tax" of 5% for hotel guests beginning in 2013 and the minimum wage for public contract jobs will increase by €1 per hour (currently at €7.50). Plans were dropped for making teachers civil servants again and requiring property owners to contribute to street improvement costs. Wowereit summarised the talks by saying “We want Berlin to become richer and to stay sexy.”

Polls

Institute	Date	SPD	CDU	LINKE	GRÜNE	FDP	NPD, DVU, REP	All others
Info GMBH	31 March 2011	32%	19%	11%	29%	03 %	–	6%
Forsa institute	26 March 2011	29%	19%	13%	24%	03 %	–	12%
Info GMBH	6 March 2011	29,6%	20,2%	12,5%	22,2%	03,7 %	2,4%	9,3%
Forsa	25 February 2011	30%	18%	13%	23%	04 %	–	12%
Infratest dimap	16 February 2011	28%	23%	16%	23%	03 %	–	07 %
Forsa	15 January 2011	28%	19%	14%	24%	03 %	–	12%
Infratest dimap	10 January 2011	29%	20%	17%	25%	04 %	–	05 %
Forsa	18 December 2010	27%	19%	15%	25%	04 %	–	10%
Infratest dimap	8 December 2010	27%	21%	17%	27%	03 %	–	05 %
Forsa	27 November 2010	26%	18%	16%	28%	03 %	–	09 %
Forsa	1 November 2010	27%	17%	14%	29%	03 %	–	10%
Infratest dimap	27 October 2010	22%	20%	17%	30%	03 %	–	08 %
Forsa	1 October 2010	26%	16%	15%	30%	03 %	–	10%
Emnid	13 September 2010	28%	19%	15%	25%	04 %	–	09 %
Infratest dimap	8 September 2010	24%	22%	16%	28%	04 %	–	06 %