| Election Name: | 2004 Brandenburg state election |
| Country: | Brandenburg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1999 Brandenburg state election |
| Previous Year: | 1999 |
| Next Election: | 2009 Brandenburg state election |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
| Seats For Election: | All 88 seats in the Landtag of Brandenburg |
| Majority Seats: | 45 |
| Election Date: | 19 September 2004 |
| Turnout: | 1,168,909 (56.4%) 2.1% |
| Leader1: | Matthias Platzeck |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Leaders Seat1: | Potsdam II |
| Last Election1: | 37 seats, 39.3% |
| Seats1: | 33 |
| Popular Vote1: | 372,942 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Percentage1: | 31.9% |
| Swing1: | 7.4% |
| Leader2: | Dagmar Enkelmann |
| Party2: | Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Barnim II |
| Last Election2: | 22 seats, 23.3% |
| Seats2: | 29 |
| Popular Vote2: | 326,801 |
| Seat Change2: | 7 |
| Percentage2: | 28.0% |
| Swing2: | 4.7% |
| Image4: | Joerg Schoenbohm 01.jpg |
| Leader4: | Jörg Schönbohm |
| Party4: | Christian Democratic Union (Germany) |
| Leaders Seat4: | State-wide party list |
| Last Election4: | 25 seats, 26.5% |
| Seats4: | 20 |
| Popular Vote4: | 227,062 |
| Seat Change4: | 5 |
| Percentage4: | 19.4% |
| Swing4: | 7.1% |
| Image5: | DVU |
| Leader5: | Liane Hesselbarth |
| Party5: | German People's Union |
| Leaders Seat5: | State-wide party list |
| Last Election5: | 5 seats, 5.3% |
| Seats5: | 6 |
| Popular Vote5: | 71,041 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Percentage5: | 6.1% |
| Swing5: | 0.8% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Platzeck I |
| Before Party: | SPD–CDU |
| Posttitle: | Government after election |
| After Election: | Platzeck II |
| After Party: | SPD–CDU |
The 2004 Brandenburg state election was held on 19 September 2004 to elect the members of the 4th Landtag of Brandenburg. The incumbent government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Matthias Platzeck was returned with a significantly reduced majority. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) moved into second place, although polls prior to the election suggested it would become the largest party. The CDU fell to third place.
The SPD had suffered losses in several state elections before Brandenburg. This was thought to be a consequence of the Agenda 2010 policy, a series of economic liberal economic reforms adopted by the federal SPD government led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Many voters in eastern Germany turned to the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), while many in the west later turned to Labour and Social Justice, an SPD splinter party. In state elections, the SPD's growing unpopularity had chiefly benefited the CDU.
In Brandenburg, both Minister-President Matthias Platzeck (SPD) and his partner Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) supported Schröder's reforms. Both PDS and the German People's Union (DVU), which had entered the Landtag in 1999, campaigned in opposition.
The table below lists parties represented in the 3rd Landtag of Brandenburg.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 1999 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Matthias Platzeck | 39.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Jörg Schönbohm | 26.5% | |||
| bgcolor= | PDS | Party of Democratic Socialism | Democratic socialism | Dagmar Enkelmann | 23.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | DVU | German People's Union | German nationalism | 5.3% | ||||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | SPD | CDU | PDS | DVU | Grüne | FDP | Others | Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 state election | data-sort-value="2004-09-19" | 19 Sep 2004 | – | 31.9 | 19.4 | 28.0 | 6.1 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 7.7 | 3.9 | |||
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2004-09-10" | 6–9 Sep 2004 | 1,034 | 29 | 23 | 27 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-09-09" | 6–8 Sep 2004 | 1,000 | 27 | 24 | 31 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2004-09-07" | 30 Aug–4 Sep 2004 | 1,003 | 28 | 23 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | |||
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2004-09-04" | 30 Aug–1 Sep 2004 | 751 | 29 | 25 | 31 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||
| Infratest | data-sort-value="2004-09-01" | August 2004 | 1,000 | 28 | 22 | 34 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2004-08-24" | 16–20 Aug 2004 | 1,009 | 27 | 22 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-08-11" | 5–9 Aug 2004 | 1,001 | 28 | 26 | 29 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2004-08-09" | 29 Jul–5 Aug 2004 | 1,001 | 33 | 27 | 30 | – | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |||
| Usuma | data-sort-value="2004-07-29" | June 2004 | 1,007 | 31 | 36 | 22 | – | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2004-06-03" | May 2004 | 1,000 | 33 | 30 | 22 | – | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-03-25" | 15–19 Mar 2004 | 1,001 | 30 | 34 | 20 | – | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-10-22" | 15–20 Oct 2003 | 1,000 | 34 | 32 | 19 | – | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-06-20" | 9–15 Jun 2003 | 1,000 | 34 | 34 | 17 | – | 6 | 5 | 4 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie | ||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-03-12" | 6–9 Mar 2003 | 1,000 | 36 | 35 | 17 | – | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |||
| dimap | data-sort-value="2002-12-15" | 15 Dec 2002 | ? | 34 | 36 | 20 | – | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-09-05" | 28 Aug–1 Sep 2002 | 1,000 | 46 | 23 | 20 | – | 6 | 3 | 2 | 23 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-07-05" | 24–25 Jun 2002 | 1,000 | 40 | 29 | 21 | – | 2 | 6 | 2 | 11 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-05-05" | 24–28 Apr 2002 | 1,000 | 35 | 30 | 24 | – | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2002-03-28" | March 2002 | 1,014 | 37 | 28 | 24 | – | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2001-10-19" | 9–14 Oct 2001 | 1,000 | 44 | 26 | 21 | – | 2 | 3 | 4 | 18 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2001-04-30" | April 2001 | ? | 45 | 25 | 21 | – | 2 | 3 | 4 | 20 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2000-09-06" | 28 Aug–2 Sep 2000 | 1,000 | 44 | 25 | 21 | – | 3 | 3 | 4 | 19 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2000-09-06" | 25–29 Apr 2000 | 1,000 | 42 | 26 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | |||
| 1999 state election | data-sort-value="1999-09-05" | 5 Sep 1999 | – | 39.3 | 26.5 | 23.3 | 5.3 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 12.7 |