| Election Name: | 1999 Hesse state election |
| Country: | Hesse |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1995 Hessian state election |
| Previous Year: | 1995 |
| Next Election: | 2003 Hessian state election |
| Next Year: | 2003 |
| Seats For Election: | All 110 seats of the Landtag of Hesse |
| Majority Seats: | 56 |
| Election Date: | 7 February 1999 |
| Turnout: | 2,800,371 (66.4%) 0.1% |
| Leader1: | Roland Koch |
| Party1: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 45 seats, 39.2% |
| Seats1: | 50 |
| Seat Change1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,215,783 |
| Percentage1: | 43.4% |
| Swing1: | 4.2% |
| Leader2: | Hans Eichel |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 44 seats, 38.0% |
| Seats2: | 46 |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,102,544 |
| Percentage2: | 39.4% |
| Swing2: | 1.4% |
| Leader4: | Tarek Al-Wazir |
| Party4: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election4: | 13 seats, 11.2% |
| Seats4: | 8 |
| Seat Change4: | 5 |
| Popular Vote4: | 201,194 |
| Percentage4: | 7.2% |
| Swing4: | 4.0% |
| Leader5: | Ruth Wagner |
| Party5: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election5: | 8 seats, 7.4% |
| Seats5: | 6 |
| Seat Change5: | 2 |
| Popular Vote5: | 142,845 |
| Percentage5: | 5.1% |
| Swing5: | 2.3% |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Minister-President | |
| Before Election: | Hans Eichel |
| Before Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| After Election: | Roland Koch |
| After Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
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.
The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 1995 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Roland Koch | 39.2% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Hans Eichel | 38.0% | |||
| bgcolor= | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens | Green politics | Priska Hinz Rupert von Plottnitz | 11.2% | |||
| bgcolor= | FDP | Free Democratic Party | Classical liberalism | Ruth Wagner | 7.4% | |||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | CDU | SPD | Grüne | FDP | Others | Lead | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 state election | data-sort-value="1999-02-07" | 7 February 1999 | – | 43.4 | 39.4 | 7.2 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 4.0 | |
| Polis | data-sort-value="1999-01-30" | 30 Jan 1999 | 1,016 | 36 | 41 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="1999-01-29" | 25–28 Jan 1999 | 1,025 | 39 | 42 | 8.5 | 5.5 | 5 | 3 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="1999-01-28" | 18–24 Jan 1999 | 1,000 | 37.5 | 42 | 10 | 7 | 3.5 | 4.5 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="1999-01-20" | 20 Jan 1999 | ? | 36 | 40 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 4 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="1999-01-14" | 14 Jan 1999 | ? | 37 | 38 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="1999-01-14" | 4–10 Jan 1999 | 1,000 | 39 | 42 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="1998-12-04" | 30 Nov–3 Dec 1998 | 1,011 | 37 | 45 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 8 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="1998-11-06" | 2–5 Nov 1998 | 1,021 | 38 | 43 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |
| 1995 state election | data-sort-value="1995-02-19" | 19 February 1995 | – | 39.2 | 38.0 | 11.2 | 7.4 | 4.3 | 1.2 |
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.[1]
| Party | Constituency | Party list | Total seats | +/- | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | +/- | Seats | |||||
| bgcolor= | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 1,265,942 | 45.34 | 34 | 1,215,783 | 43.42 | 4.26 | 16 | 50 | 5 | |
| bgcolor= | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 1,158,663 | 41.50 | 21 | 1,102,544 | 39.37 | 1.40 | 25 | 46 | 2 | |
| bgcolor= | Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) | 168,325 | 6.03 | 0 | 201,194 | 7.18 | 4.01 | 8 | 8 | 5 | |
| bgcolor= | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 98,095 | 3.51 | 0 | 142,845 | 5.10 | 2.35 | 6 | 6 | 2 | |
| bgcolor= | The Republicans (REP) | 79,273 | 2.84 | 0 | 75,114 | 2.68 | 0.70 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | Human Environment Animal Protection Party (Tierschutz) | 2,056 | 0.07 | 0 | 12,856 | 0.46 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
| League of Free Citizens (BFB) | 8,760 | 0.31 | 0 | 10,811 | 0.39 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| bgcolor= | Free Voters (FWG) | 405 | 0.01 | 0 | 10,057 | 0.36 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
| bgcolor= | Feminist Party of Germany (FRAUEN) | 1,745 | 0.06 | 0 | 6,691 | 0.24 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
| bgcolor= | National Democratic Party (NPD) | 2,231 | 0.08 | 0 | 5,933 | 0.21 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | Party of Bible-abiding Christians (PBC) | 2,164 | 0.08 | 0 | 4,999 | 0.18 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | German Communist Party (DKP) | 1,181 | 0.04 | 0 | 3,881 | 0.14 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | Natural Law Party (Naturgesetz) | 1,515 | 0.05 | 0 | 2,499 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) | 138 | 0.00 | 0 | 2,053 | 0.07 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party of Willing Workers and Disadvantaged (PASS) | 95 | 0.00 | 0 | 1,909 | 0.07 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| bgcolor= | Civil Rights Movement Soliarity (BüSo) | 627 | 0.02 | 0 | 612 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| German Homeland Party (DHP) | 91 | 0.00 | 0 | 591 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| bgcolor= | Independents | 540 | 0.02 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 2,791,846 | 100.00 | 55 | 2,800,372 | 100.00 | 55 | 110 | 0 | |||
| Invalid | 53,740 | 1.89 | 45,214 | 1.59 | |||||||
| Turnout | 2,845,586 | 66.45 | 2,845,586 | 66.45 | 0.18 | ||||||
| Registered voters | 4,282,397 | 4,282,397 | |||||||||