Jump to content

1987 Hessian state election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1987 Hessian state election

← 1983 5 April 1987 1991 →

All 110 seats in the Landtag of Hesse
56 seats needed for a majority
Turnout3,346,992 (80.3% Decrease 3.2pp)
  First party Second party
 
KAS-Wallmann, Walter-Bild-5166-1 (cropped).jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F066629-0015, Frankfurt, Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (Hans Krollmann).jpg
Candidate Walter Wallmann Hans Krollmann
Party CDU SPD
Last election 44 seats, 39.4% 51 seats, 46.2%
Seats won 47 44
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 7
Popular vote 1,395,411 1,331,760
Percentage 42.1% 40.2%
Swing Increase 2.7pp Decrease 6.0pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F065084-0014, Bonn, Pressekonferenz der Grünen, Bundestagswahl.jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F064956-0020, Freiburg, FDP-Bundesparteitag, Gerhardt.jpg
Candidate Iris Blaul &
Joschka Fischer
Wolfgang Gerhardt
Party Greens FDP
Last election 7 seats, 5.9% 8 seats, 7.6%
Seats won 10 9
Seat change Increase 3 Increase 1
Popular vote 311,395 259,133
Percentage 9.4% 7.8%
Swing Increase 3.5pp Increase 0.2pp

Results for the single-member constituencies.

Government before election

Third Börner cabinet
SPDGreen

Government after election

Wallmann cabinet
CDUFDP

The 1987 Hessian state election was held on 5 April 1987 to elect the 12th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by outgoing Minister-President Holger Börner, who retired at the election. The SPD campaign was led by finance minister Hans Krollmann, who ran to succeed him.

The government was defeated, with gains for the Greens offset by a significant swing against the SPD. The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party with 42% of votes and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), ending 40 years of SPD rule in the state. CDU leader Walter Wallmann was elected Minister-President by the Landtag.

Electoral system

[edit]

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 55 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 55 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.

Background

[edit]

The previous election, held on 25 September 1983, was a snap election called after the Landtag elected in 1982 failed to form a government. The result was a strong victory for the SPD, who overtook the CDU as the largest party. The FDP also returned to the Landtag after losing their seats for the first time. The Greens, whose position as kingmaker caused the deadlock and fresh elections, retained their seats. Though the arithmetic was no better than in 1982, the SPD this time agreed to form a minority government with external support from the Greens. Holger Börner took office in June 1984. In October the following year, the SPD and Greens agreed to form a coalition government, marking the first involvement of the Greens in government in Germany. The coalition collapsed a little less than eighteen months later in February 1987 due to disputes over nuclear energy, leading to the election being called ahead of schedule in April.

Parties

[edit]

The table below lists parties represented in the 11th Landtag of Hesse.

Name Ideology Lead
candidate
1983 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Hans Krollmann 46.2%
51 / 110
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
Christian democracy Walter Wallmann 39.4%
44 / 110
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Classical liberalism Wolfgang Gerhardt 7.6%
8 / 110
GRÜNE The Greens
Die Grünen
Green politics Iris Blaul & Joschka Fischer 5.9%
7 / 110

Election result

[edit]
Party Votes % Swing Seats
Con. List Total +/-
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 1,395,441 42.12 Increase 2.72 29 18 47 Increase 3
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 1,331,760 40.20 Decrease 6.03 26 18 44 Decrease 7
The Greens (GRÜNE) 311,395 9.40 Increase 3.46 0 10 10 Increase 3
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 259,133 7.82 Increase 0.21 0 9 9 Increase 1
German Communist Party (DKP) 9,168 0.28 Increase 0.02 0 0 0 Steady 0
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) 4,627 0.14 New 0 0 0 New
Feminist Party of Germany (FRAUEN) 1,004 0.03 New 0 0 0 New
UngüLtiG 244 0.01 New 0 0 0 New
The Colourful (BUNTE) 190 0.01 New 0 0 0 New
The Responsible Citizens 129 0.00 New 0 0 0 New
Eco 123 0.00 New 0 0 0 New
Total 3,313,184 100.00 55 55 110 Steady 0
Invalid 33,808 1.01
Turnout 3,346,992 80.30 Decrease 3.23
Registered voters 4,167,871
[edit]
  • "Final Results for the Landtag election of 5 April 1987" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). 16 April 1987. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  • "Elections to the Hessian Landtag, April 5, 1987". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 14 September 2023.

Notes

[edit]