| Election Name: | 2006 Rhineland-Palatinate state election |
| Country: | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2001 Rhineland-Palatinate state election |
| Previous Year: | 2001 |
| Next Election: | 2011 Rhineland-Palatinate state election |
| Next Year: | 2011 |
| Seats For Election: | All 101 seats of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Majority Seats: | 51 |
| Election Date: | 26 March 2006 |
| Turnout: | 1,753,110 (58.2%) 4.0% |
| Leader1: | Kurt Beck |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 49 seats, 44.8% |
| Seats1: | 53 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 799,377 |
| Percentage1: | 45.6% |
| Swing1: | 0.8% |
| Leader2: | Christoph Böhr |
| Party2: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Seats2: | 38 |
| Seat Change2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 574,329 |
| Percentage2: | 32.8% |
| Swing2: | 2.5% |
| Leader4: | Hans-Artur Bauckhage |
| Party4: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election4: | 8 seats, 7.8% |
| Seats4: | 10 |
| Seat Change4: | 2 |
| Popular Vote4: | 140,865 |
| Percentage4: | 8.0% |
| Swing4: | 0.2% |
| Leader5: | Ise Thomas |
| Party5: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election5: | 6 seats, 5.2% |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 6 |
| Popular Vote5: | 81,411 |
| Percentage5: | 4.6% |
| Swing5: | 0.6% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Minister-President | |
| Before Election: | Kurt Beck |
| Before Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| After Election: | Kurt Beck |
| After Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
The 2006 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 26 March 2006 to elect the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Kurt Beck retained its majority. However, as the SPD won an outright majority, the FDP chose not to continue the coalition. Beck was subsequently re-elected as Minister-President.
The election was one of the first held under the grand coalition federal government. Thus, the SPD and CDU did not attack each other as harshly as previously. The SPD was expected to benefit from the personality of Kurt Beck, while the CDU ran again with their leader Christoph Böhr, who had already lost the 2001 election.
The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2001 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Kurt Beck | 44.8% | |||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Christoph Böhr | 35.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | FDP | Free Democratic Party | Classical liberalism | Hans-Artur Bauckhage | 7.8% | |||
| bgcolor= | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens | Green politics | Ise Thomas | 5.2% | |||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | SPD | CDU | FDP | Grüne | WASG | Others | Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 state election | data-sort-value="2006-03-26" | 26 Mar 2006 | – | 45.6 | 32.8 | 8.0 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 6.4 | 12.8 | |||
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2006-03-21" | 7–18 Mar 2006 | 500 | 43 | 35 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 8 | |||
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2006-03-17" | 13–16 Mar 2006 | ~1,000 | 43 | 36 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2006-03-16" | 13–15 Mar 2006 | 1,000 | 43 | 35 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-03-15" | 9–10 Mar 2006 | 1,001 | 39 | 34 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2006-03-02" | 25–28 Feb 2006 | 1,000 | 42 | 35 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2006-02-28" | 21–23 Feb 2006 | 1,006 | 42 | 38 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2006-02-02" | 30 Jan–1 Feb 2006 | 1,000 | 42 | 36 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |||
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-01-25" | 17–20 Jan 2006 | 1,002 | 37 | 37 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 4 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie | ||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2005-12-15" | 8–12 Dec 2005 | 1,000 | 39 | 37 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2005-11-28" | 22–24 Nov 2005 | 1,003 | 41 | 37 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2005-09-08" | 29 Aug–4 Sep 2005 | 1,000 | 35 | 43 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2005-08-19" | 11–15 Aug 2005 | 1,002 | 41 | 39 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2005-05-28" | 23–26 May 2005 | 1,001 | 39 | 40 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2005-03-17" | 7–13 Mar 2005 | 1,000 | 38 | 40 | 8 | 8 | – | 6 | 1 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2005-02-25" | 15–17 Feb 2005 | 1,005 | 41 | 38 | 8 | 6 | – | 7 | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-12-16" | 7–12 Dec 2004 | 1,000 | 38 | 39 | 8 | 8 | – | 7 | 1 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2004-11-11" | 3–6 Nov 2004 | 1,003 | 39 | 39 | 9 | 6 | – | 7 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie | ||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-10-07" | 7 Oct 2004 | 1,000 | 36 | 37 | 10 | 9 | – | 8 | 1 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2004-08-31" | 24–27 Aug 2004 | 1,002 | 37 | 40 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-06-03" | 24–29 May 2004 | 1,000 | 34 | 45 | 8 | 8 | – | 6 | 11 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2004-05-19" | 11–13 May 2004 | 1,003 | 37 | 43 | 8 | 6 | – | 6 | 6 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-03-18" | 8–13 Mar 2004 | 1,000 | 32 | 48 | 8 | 7 | – | 5 | 16 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2004-02-18" | 10–13 Feb 2004 | 1,000 | 39 | 42 | 8 | 6 | – | 5 | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-12-11" | 1–6 Dec 2003 | 1,000 | 35 | 45 | 8 | 7 | – | 5 | 10 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2003-11-13" | 5–7 Nov 2003 | 1,006 | 35 | 45 | 8 | 7 | – | ? | 10 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-10-02" | 23–27 Sep 2003 | 1,000 | 35 | 46 | 7 | 7 | – | 5 | 11 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2003-08-16" | 8–11 Aug 2003 | 1,001 | 39 | 43 | 8 | 6 | – | ? | 4 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-06-26" | 16–21 Jun 2003 | 1,000 | 36 | 47 | 7 | 6 | – | 4 | 11 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2003-05-22" | 14–17 May 2003 | 1,005 | 37 | 45 | 7 | 8 | – | 3 | 8 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2003-03-20" | 10–15 Mar 2003 | 1,000 | 33 | 47 | 7 | 8 | – | 5 | 14 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2003-02-20" | 10–13 Feb 2003 | 1,002 | 36 | 46 | 7 | 8 | – | 2 | 10 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-12-19" | 9–14 Dec 2002 | 1,001 | 35 | 45 | 7 | 7 | – | 6 | 10 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2002-11-20" | 12–14 Nov 2002 | 1,005 | 40 | 42 | 7 | 7 | – | 4 | 2 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-09-12" | 2–7 Sep 2002 | 1,000 | 45 | 35 | 13 | 3 | – | 4 | 10 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2002-08-12" | 1–3 Aug 2002 | 1,003 | 42 | 39 | 10 | 4 | – | ? | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-06-06" | 27 May–1 Jun 2002 | 1,000 | 41 | 38 | 12 | 5 | – | 4 | 3 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2002-05-15" | 6–10 May 2002 | 1,004 | 40 | 38 | 10 | 6 | – | ? | 2 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2002-03-14" | 4–9 Mar 2002 | 1,000 | 42 | 39 | 10 | 4 | – | 5 | 3 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2002-02-15" | 1–5 Feb 2002 | 1,002 | 41 | 40 | 9 | 5 | – | 5 | 1 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2001-12-20" | 10–15 Dec 2001 | 1,000 | 43 | 39 | 10 | 3 | – | 5 | 4 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2001-11-15" | 5–9 Nov 2001 | 1,002 | 45 | 36 | 9 | 5 | – | 5 | 9 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2001-09-20" | 10–15 Sep 2001 | 1,000 | 46 | 38 | 8 | 5 | – | 3 | 8 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2001-09-05" | 27–30 Aug 2001 | 1,004 | 45 | 37 | 8 | ? | – | ? | 8 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2001-05-31" | 21–26 May 2001 | 1,000 | 46 | 36 | 7 | 5 | – | 6 | 10 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2001-05-16" | 4–10 May 2001 | 1,003 | 46 | 35 | 9 | 5 | – | 5 | 11 | |||
| 2001 state election | data-sort-value="2001-03-25" | 25 Mar 2001 | – | 44.8 | 35.3 | 7.8 | 5.2 | – | 6.9 | 9.5 |
|-! colspan="2" | Party! Votes! %! +/-! Seats ! +/-! Seats %|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD)| align=right| 799,377| align=right| 45.6| align=right| 0.8| align=right| 53| align=right| 4| align=right| 52.5|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU)| align=right| 574,329| align=right| 32.8| align=right| 2.5| align=right| 38| align=right| 0| align=right| 37.6|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP)| align=right| 140,865| align=right| 8.0| align=right| 0.2| align=right| 10| align=right| 2| align=right| 9.9|-! colspan=8||-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)| align=right| 81,411| align=right| 4.6| align=right| 0.6| align=right| 0| align=right| 6| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=#FF8000| | align=left | Labour and Social Justice (WASG)| align=right| 44,826| align=right| 2.6| align=right| New| align=right| 0| align=right| New| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | The Republicans (REP)| align=right| 29,919| align=right| 1.7| align=right| 0.7| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Voters (FW)| align=right| 27,652| align=right| 1.6| align=right| 0.9| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | National Democratic Party (NPD)| align=right| 21,056| align=right| 1.2| align=right| 0.7| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=|| align=left | Others| align=right| 33,675| align=right| 1.9| align=right| | align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-! align=right colspan=2| Total! align=right| 1,753,110! align=right| 100.0! align=right| ! align=right| 101! align=right| ±0! align=right| |-! align=right colspan=2| Voter turnout! align=right| ! align=right| 58.2! align=right| 4.0! align=right| ! align=right| ! align=right| |}