2011 Hamburg state election

← 2008 20 February 2011[1] 2015 →
All 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament 61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	3,444,602 (57.3%) 6.2%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Olaf Scholz Christoph Ahlhaus Anja Hajduk Party SPD CDU Greens Last election 45 seats, 34.15% 56 seats, 42.58% 12 seats, 9.58% Seats won 62 28 14 Seat change 17 28 2 Popular vote 1,667,804 753,805 384,502 Percentage 48.42% 21.88% 11.16% Swing 14.27% 20.70% 1.58%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Katja Suding Dora Heyenn Party FDP Left Last election 0 seats, 4.75% 8 seats, 6.45% Seats won 9 8 Seat change 9 0 Popular vote 229,125 220,428 Percentage 6.65% 6.40% Swing 1.90% 0.05%
Mayor before election Christoph Ahlhaus CDU Elected Mayor Olaf Scholz SPD

The 2011 Hamburg state election was held on 20 February 2011 to elect the members of the 20th Hamburg Parliament. The election was triggered by the collapse of the coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Alternative List (GAL), which had governed the state since 2008.^[1] The election was a landslide defeat for the CDU, which lost half its voteshare and seats. The margin of defeat for the incumbent Ahlhaus Senate is the largest in post-war German history and has not been met since. Much of this lost support flowed to the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which won 62 of the 121 seats in Parliament, forming a majority government led by Olaf Scholz.^[2][3]

Background

After the 2008 state election, the CDU formed a coalition government with the GAL. This was the first time such a government had been formed in Germany, as the Greens were seen as aligned with the SPD, typically in opposition to the CDU. Popular CDU mayor Ole von Beust was seen as a stabilising force for the government. After his retirement in August 2010 and the election of Christoph Ahlhaus as his successor, relations between the two parties became increasingly strained.^[1][4][5] In November 2010, GAL left the government.^[6] Ahlhaus formed a minority CDU Senate and the Parliament subsequently voted to dissolve itself and hold early elections.^[7]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 19th Hamburg Parliament.

Opinion polling