1999 Hessian state election

The 1999 Hessian state election was held on 7 February 1999 to elect the members of the 15th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Hans Eichel.

The government was unexpectedly defeated, with the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) winning a comfortable plurality and forming a one-seat majority coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). This was despite prior opinion polling indicating the SPD and Greens would be re-elected comfortably and increase their majority. CDU leader Roland Koch was elected Minister-President by the Landtag in early April.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Hesse.

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan=2 colspan=3| Name

! rowspan=2| Ideology

! rowspan=2| Leader(s)

! colspan=2| 1995 result

! Votes (%)

! Seats

| bgcolor= |

| align=center| CDU

| Christian Democratic Union of Germany

| Christian democracy

| Roland Koch

| align=center| 39.2%

| bgcolor= |

| align=center| SPD

| Social Democratic Party of Germany

| Social democracy

| Hans Eichel

| align=center| 38.0%

| bgcolor= |

| align=center| Grüne

| Alliance 90/The Greens

| Green politics

| Priska Hinz Rupert von Plottnitz

| align=center| 11.2%

| bgcolor= |

| align=center| FDP

| Free Democratic Party

| Classical liberalism

| Ruth Wagner

| align=center| 7.4%

Opinion polling

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;line-height:14px;"

|- style="height:40px;"

! style="width:160px;" rowspan="2"| Polling firm

! style="width:110px;" rowspan="2"| Fieldwork date

! style="width:35px;" rowspan="2"| Sample size

! class="unsortable" style="width:40px;"| CDU

! class="unsortable" style="width:40px;"| SPD

! class="unsortable" style="width:40px;"| Grüne

! class="unsortable" style="width:40px;"| FDP

! class="unsortable" style="width:40px;" rowspan="2"| Others

! style="width:30px;" rowspan="2"| Lead

! style="background:;"|

|- style="background:#E9E9E9;"

| 1999 state election

| data-sort-value="1999-02-07"| 7 February 1999

| –

| style="background:#D7D5D7;"| 43.4

| 39.4

| 7.2

| 5.1

| 4.9

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4.0

| Polis

| data-sort-value="1999-01-30"| 30 Jan 1999

| 1,016

| 36

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 41

| 10

| 8

| 5

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5

| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen

| data-sort-value="1999-01-29"| 25–28 Jan 1999

| 1,025

| 39

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 42

| 8.5

| 5.5

| 5

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 3

| Infratest dimap

| data-sort-value="1999-01-28"| 18–24 Jan 1999

| 1,000

| 37.5

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 42

| 10

| 7

| 3.5

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4.5

| Forsa

| data-sort-value="1999-01-20"| 20 Jan 1999

| ?

| 36

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 40

| 11

| 7

| 6

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4

| Forsa

| data-sort-value="1999-01-14"| 14 Jan 1999

| ?

| 37

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 38

| 12

| 7

| 6

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 1

| Infratest dimap

| data-sort-value="1999-01-14"| 4–10 Jan 1999

| 1,000

| 39

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 42

| 9

| 6

| 4

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 3

| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen

| data-sort-value="1998-12-04"| 30 Nov–3 Dec 1998

| 1,011

| 37

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 45

| 9

| 4

| 5

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 8

| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen

| data-sort-value="1998-11-06"| 2–5 Nov 1998

| 1,021

| 38

| style="background:#FFCCCC;"| 43

| 10

| 4

| 5

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5

|- style="background:#E9E9E9;"

| 1995 state election

| data-sort-value="1995-02-19"| 19 February 1995

| –

| style="background:#D7D5D7;"| 39.2

| 38.0

| 11.2

| 7.4

| 4.3

| style="background:;color:#FFFFFF;"| 1.2

Campaign

During the campaign, the CDU collected signatures opposing the federal government's plan to relax Germany's high standards for dual citizenship, which drew accusations of xenophobia.

Election result

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right; font-size:90%"

! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Party

! colspan=3| Constituency

! colspan=4| Party list

! rowspan=2| Total seats

! rowspan=2| +/-

! Votes

! %

! Seats

! Votes

! %

! +/-

! Seats

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Christian Democratic Union

| 1,265,942

| 45.34

| 34

| 1,215,783

| 43.42

| +4.26

| 16

| 50

| 5

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Social Democratic Party

| 1,158,663

| 41.50

| 21

| 1,102,544

| 39.37

| +1.40

| 25

| 46

| 2

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens

| 168,325

| 6.03

| 0

| 201,194

| 7.18

| -4.01

| 8

| 5

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Free Democratic Party

| 98,095

| 3.51

| 0

| 142,845

| 5.10

| -2.35

| 6

| 2

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| The Republicans

| 79,273

| 2.84

| 0

| 75,114

| 2.68

| +0.70

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Human Environment Animal Protection Party

| 2,056

| 0.07

| 0

| 12,856

| 0.46

| New

| 0

| New

| align=left| League of Free Citizens

| 8,760

| 0.31

| 0

| 10,811

| 0.39

| +0.08

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Free Voters

| 405

| 0.01

| 0

| 10,057

| 0.36

| New

| 0

| New

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Feminist Party of Germany

| 1,745

| 0.06

| 0

| 6,691

| 0.24

| New

| 0

| New

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| National Democratic Party

| 2,231

| 0.08

| 0

| 5,933

| 0.21

| -0.07

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Party of Bible-abiding Christians

| 2,164

| 0.08

| 0

| 4,999

| 0.18

| -0.06

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| German Communist Party

| 1,181

| 0.04

| 0

| 3,881

| 0.14

| +0.02

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Natural Law Party

| 1,515

| 0.05

| 0

| 2,499

| 0.09

| -0.07

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Ecological Democratic Party

| 138

| 0.00

| 0

| 2,053

| 0.07

| -0.12

| 0

| align=left| Party of Willing Workers and Disadvantaged

| 95

| 0.00

| 0

| 1,909

| 0.07

| New

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Civil Rights Movement Soliarity

| 627

| 0.02

| 0

| 612

| 0.02

| 0.00

| 0

| align=left| German Homeland Party

| 91

| 0.00

| 0

| 591

| 0.02

| -0.01

| 0

| bgcolor=|

| align=left| Independents

| 540

| 0.02

| 0

| colspan=4| –

| 0

! colspan=2| Total

! 2,791,846

! 100.00

! 55

! 2,800,372

! 100.00

! 55

! 110

! 0

| colspan=2 align=center| Invalid

| 53,740

| 1.89

| 45,214

| 1.59

| colspan=4|

! colspan=2| Turnout

! 2,845,586

! 66.45

! 2,845,586

! 66.45

! +0.18

! colspan=4|

| colspan=2 align=center| Registered voters

| 4,282,397

| colspan=2|

| 4,282,397

| colspan=5|

References

Sources

The Federal Returning Officer