| Election Name: | 2011 Hamburg state election |
| Country: | Hamburg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2008 Hamburg state election |
| Previous Year: | 2008 |
| Next Election: | 2015 Hamburg state election |
| Next Year: | 2015 |
| Seats For Election: | All 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament |
| Majority Seats: | 61 |
| Election Date: | 20 February 2011[1] |
| Turnout: | 3,444,602 (57.3%) 6.2% |
| Leader1: | Olaf Scholz |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 45 seats, 34.1% |
| Seats1: | 62 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,667,804 |
| Seat Change1: | 17 |
| Percentage1: | 48.4% |
| Swing1: | 14.3% |
| Leader2: | Christoph Ahlhaus |
| Party2: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 56 seats, 42.6% |
| Seats2: | 28 |
| Popular Vote2: | 753,805 |
| Seat Change2: | 28 |
| Percentage2: | 21.9% |
| Swing2: | 20.7% |
| Leader3: | Anja Hajduk |
| Party3: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election3: | 12 seats, 9.6% |
| Seats3: | 14 |
| Popular Vote3: | 384,502 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Percentage3: | 11.2% |
| Swing3: | 1.6% |
| Leader4: | Katja Suding |
| Party4: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election4: | 0 seats, 4.8% |
| Seats4: | 9 |
| Popular Vote4: | 229,125 |
| Seat Change4: | 9 |
| Percentage4: | 6.7% |
| Swing4: | 1.9% |
| Leader5: | Dora Heyenn |
| Party5: | The Left (Germany) |
| Last Election5: | 8 seats, 6.4% |
| Seats5: | 8 |
| Seat Change5: | 0 |
| Popular Vote5: | 220,428 |
| Percentage5: | 6.4% |
| Swing5: | 0.0% |
| Mayor | |
| Before Election: | Christoph Ahlhaus |
| Before Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| After Election: | Olaf Scholz |
| After Party: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
The 2011 Hamburg state election was held on 20 February 2011 to elect the members of the 20th Hamburg Parliament. The election was triggered by the collapse of the coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Alternative List (GAL), which had governed the state since 2008.[1] The election was a landslide defeat for the CDU, which lost half its voteshare and seats. The margin of defeat for the incumbent Ahlhaus Senate is the largest in post-war German history and has not been met since. Much of this lost support flowed to the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which won 62 of the 121 seats in Parliament, forming a majority government led by Olaf Scholz.[2] [3]
After the 2008 state election, the CDU formed a coalition government with the GAL. This was the first time such a government had been formed in Germany, as the Greens were seen as aligned with the SPD, typically in opposition to the CDU. Popular CDU mayor Ole von Beust was seen as a stabilising force for the government. After his retirement in August 2010 and the election of Christoph Ahlhaus as his successor, relations between the two parties became increasingly strained.[1] [4] [5] In November 2010, GAL left the government.[6] Ahlhaus formed a minority CDU Senate and the Parliament subsequently voted to dissolve itself and hold early elections.[7]
The table below lists parties represented in the 19th Hamburg Parliament.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2008 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Christoph Ahlhaus | 42.58% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Olaf Scholz | 34.15% | |||
| bgcolor= | GAL | Green Alternative List | Green politics | Anja Hajduk | 9.58% | |||
| bgcolor= | Linke | The Left | Democratic socialism | Dora Heyenn | 6.45% | |||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | CDU | SPD | GAL | Linke | FDP | Others | Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 state election | data-sort-value="2011-02-20" | 20 Feb 2011 | – | 21.9 | 48.4 | 11.2 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 26.5 | |||
| GMS | data-sort-value="2011-02-17" | 15–17 Feb 2011 | 1,002 | 25 | 43 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 18 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2011-02-10" | 8–10 Feb 2011 | 1,004 | 23.5 | 45 | 14 | 5.5 | 5 | 7 | 21.5 | |||
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2011-02-11" | 7–10 Feb 2011 | 1,686 | 23 | 46 | 14.5 | 6 | 5 | 5.5 | 23 | |||
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2011-02-13" | 4–10 Feb 2011 | 1,002 | 24 | 45 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 21 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2011-02-03" | 28 Jan–2 Feb 2011 | 1,000 | 25 | 46 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 21 | |||
| Trend Research Hamburg | data-sort-value="2011-02-01" | 26–31 Jan 2011 | 627 | 25 | 45 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 20 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2011-01-13" | 7–11 Jan 2011 | 1,000 | 26 | 43 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 17 | |||
| Trend Research Hamburg | data-sort-value="2010-12-15" | 10–14 Dec 2010 | 648 | 24 | 45 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 21 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2010-12-13" | 10–12 Dec 2010 | 1,000 | 22 | 43 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 21 | |||
| Trend Research Hamburg | data-sort-value="2010-12-08" | 2–7 Dec 2010 | 678 | 22 | 45 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 23 | |||
| Trend Research Hamburg | data-sort-value="2010-12-02" | 29 Nov–2 Dec 2010 | 653 | 24 | 44 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 20 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2010-12-01" | 29 Nov–1 Dec 2010 | 1,002 | 28 | 45 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |||
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2010-12-01" | 29–30 Nov 2010 | 1,006 | 22 | 41 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 19 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2010-11-12" | 6–10 Nov 2010 | 1,004 | 35 | 40 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | |||
| Trend Research Hamburg | data-sort-value="2010-10-20" | 15–19 Oct 2010 | 612 | 25 | 35 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 8 | 10 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2010-07-21" | 19–20 Jul 2010 | 1,005 | 35 | 41 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2010-07-08" | 29 Jun–2 Jul 2010 | 1,007 | 36 | 39 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2010-04-26" | 19–23 Apr 2010 | 1,004 | 34 | 37 | 10 | 8 | 8 | ? | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2010-02-22" | 17–21 Feb 2009 | 1,000 | 31 | 31 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 5 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie | ||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2009-12-20" | December 2009 | 1,001 | 38 | 34 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2009-12-02" | 26–30 Nov 2009 | 1,004 | 36 | 33 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2009-02-26" | 19–22 Feb 2009 | 1,000 | 36 | 33 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2008-11-28" | 22–27 Nov 2008 | 1,003 | 44 | 31 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 13 | |||
| Psephos | data-sort-value="2008-05-06" | 29 April–5 May 2008 | 1,004 | 43 | 34 | 10 | 7 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 9 | |||
| 2008 state election | data-sort-value="2008-02-24" | 24 Feb 2008 | – | 42.6 | 34.1 | 9.6 | 6.4 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 8.5 |