2001 Hamburg state election

Template:Short description The 2001 Hamburg state election was held on 23 September 2001 to elect the members of the 17th Hamburg Parliament. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Green Alternative List (GAL) led by First Mayor Ortwin Runde was defeated, ending 44 years of uninterrupted SPD rule in the city-state.

The most significant change of the election was the entry of the Party for a Rule of Law Offensive ("Schill party") led by Ronald Schill into Parliament with 19.4% of the vote and 25 seats. This can partly be attributed to the general feeling of insecurity due to the September 11 attacks less than two weeks earlier, especially since three of the terrorists involved, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, had been members of the Hamburg cell.

Five Green members of parliament left the party in 1999 in protest over the federal government's (at the time also an SPD-Green coalition) participation in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. They formed Rainbow – For a New Left. However, the list only received 1.7% of the vote in this election and lost all five seats.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) also re-entered Parliament. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) subsequently formed a coalition with the Schill party and FDP, and CDU leader Ole von Beust was elected as First Mayor.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 16th Hamburg Parliament.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1997 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Ortwin Runde	36.2%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Ole von Beust	30.7%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	GAL	Green Alternative List Grün-Alternative-Liste Hamburg	Green politics		13.9%	Template:Composition bar

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	GAL	FDP	Schill	Rainbow	Others	Lead
			style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|
2001 state election	23 Sep 2001	–	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36.5	26.2	8.6	5.1	19.4	1.7	2.5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 10.3
Forsa	13–17 Sep 2001	1,041	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36	28	11	5	14	3	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 8
Emnid	12 Sep 2001	?	Template:Party shading/SPD| 34	30	10	6	14	–	6	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	8 Sep 2001	?	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36	27	12	7	14	2	2	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 9
Infratest dimap	3–8 Sep 2001	?	Template:Party shading/SPD| 35	28	9	5	16	2	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 7
Infratest dimap	27 Aug–2 Sep 2001	1,000	Template:Party shading/SPD| 35	28	10	7	14	2	4	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 7
Forsa	22–27 Aug 2001	1,007	Template:Party shading/SPD| 34	28	10	5	15	3	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 6
Infratest dimap	6–11 Aug 2001	1,000	Template:Party shading/SPD| 35	30	10	7	12	1	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5
Infratest dimap	12 Jul 2001	?	Template:Party shading/SPD| 35	29	11	8	10	1	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 6
Forsa	26 Jun–2 Jul 2001	1,050	Template:Party shading/SPD| 37	31	9	5	9	–	9	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 6
Infratest dimap	5–10 Jun 2001	1,002	Template:Party shading/SPD| 35	31	11	6	9	–	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4
Forsa	2–7 May 2001	1,008	Template:Party shading/SPD| 34	33	12	5	8	1	7	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 1
Forsa	March 2001	1,002	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36	31	13	4	8	2	6	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5
Psephos	1–2 Feb 2001	1,007	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36	32	13	3	9	–	7	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4
Infratest dimap	27–29 Nov 2000	1,000	Template:Party shading/SPD| 37	30	12	5	6	–	10	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 7
Psephos	24–25 May 2000	1,004	Template:Party shading/SPD| 38	33	11	6	3	–	9	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5
Psephos	7–9 Sep 1999	1,000	35	Template:Party shading/CDU| 44	11	4	–	–	6	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 9
Infratest dimap	7–9 Sep 1999	1,000	37	Template:Party shading/CDU| 42	9	3	–	–	9	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5
1997 state election	21 Sep 1997	–	Template:Party shading/SPD| 36.2	30.7	13.9	3.5	–	–	15.7	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 5.5

Election result

Summary of the 23 September 2001 election results for the Hamburg ParliamentTemplate:Election table/category

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	310,362	36.5	Increase0.3	46	Decrease8	38.0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	223,015	26.2	Decrease4.5	33	Decrease13	27.3
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Party for a Rule of Law Offensive (Schill)	165,421	19.4	New	25	New	20.7
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Green Alternative List (GAL)	72,771	8.6	Decrease5.3	11	Decrease5	9.1
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	43,214	5.1	Increase1.6	6	Increase6	5.0
	Rainbow – For a new left (REGENBOGEN)	14,247	1.7	New	0	Decrease5	0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Others	21,638	2.5		0	±0	0
Total		850,668	100.0		121	±0
Voter turnout			71.1	Increase2.4

Popular Vote SPD   36.48% CDU   26.22% SCHILL   19.45% GAL   8.55% FDP   5.08% Other   4.22%

Bürgerschaft seats SPD   38.02% CDU   27.27% SCHILL   20.66% GAL   9.09% FDP   4.96%

See also

• Hamburg state elections in the Weimar Republic

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer Template:Webarchive