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1986 Lower Saxony state election

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1986 Lower Saxony state election

← 1982 15 June 1986 1990 ⊟

All 155 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony
78 seats needed for a majority
Turnout4,320,347 (77.3%)
Decrease 0.4%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Ernst Albrecht Gerhard Schröder
Party CDU SPD
Seats won 69 66
Seat change Decrease 18 Increase 3
Popular vote 1,903,559 1,807,157
Percentage 44.3% 42.1%
Swing Decrease 6.4% Increase 5.6%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Greens FDP
Seats won 11 9
Seat change Increase 11 Decrease 1
Popular vote 303,308 257,873
Percentage 7.1% 6.0%
Swing Increase 0.6% Increase 0.1%

Results for the single-member constituencies

Minister-President before election

Ernst Albrecht
CDU

Elected Minister-President

Ernst Albrecht
CDU

The 1986 Lower Saxony state election was held on 15 June 1986 to elect the members of the 11th Landtag of Lower Saxony.[1] The election result was reportedly affected by the Chernobyl disaster which happened two weeks earlier.[2]

Background

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In the 1982 state elections [de], the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Minister-President of Lower Saxony Ernst Albrecht achieved its best result ever in Lower Saxony with 50.7 percent of the vote, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) under Karl Ravens suffered heavy losses.[3]

Since this was already Ravens' second loss against Albrecht, he decided not to run as a candidate again in 1986.

When the SPD was looking for a candidate, the SPD leadership originally favoured former Federal Minister Anke Fuchs. However, after the former Federal Chairman of the Juso and then-Hanoverian MP Gerhard Schröder announced his candidacy and secured the support of several SPD district associations, Fuchs gave up being top candidate.

There were some disputes within the SPD over the coalition question: While chancellor candidate Johannes Rau had ruled out a coalition with the Greens for the federal election planned for January 1987 and was counting on the SPD having its own majority, Schröder did not want to rule out a red-green coalition in general.

The disputes between Rau and Schröder on this issue were one of the election campaign issues.

Parties and candidates

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The state electoral committee approved 706 candidates (567 men and 139 women). The 623 district nominations consisted of 508 men and 115 women from 10 parties and individual candidates, the 389 state nominations consisted of 309 men and 80 women. Of these, 306 (56 women) also ran for a district nomination.

No. Party/individual candidate Number of constituency candidates
1 Christian Democratic Union of Germany 100
2 Social Democratic Party of Germany 100
3 DIE GRÜNEN 100
4 Free Democratic Party 100
4 Patriots for Germany [de] 100
5 German Communist Party 84
7 The Whites 32
8 Citizens' Party [de] 1
9 German Solidarity [de] 1
10 Young Voters Association of Lower Saxony 1
11 Independents 4
total number of approved district election proposals 623

Results

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While the CDU lost its absolute majority, the SPD again exceeded the 40 percent mark thanks to significant gains. In addition, around a third of the CDU's direct mandates went to the SPD. The Greens and the FDP only recorded minimal gains. Even though there was renewed circulation of candidacies from the other parties and some new parties were eligible, the small parties again received less than one percent of the votes together. The DKP's votes also halved compared to the last election.

PartyVotes% /–Seats /–
Christian Democratic Union1,903,55944.34−6.3569−18
Social Democratic Party1,807,15742.09 5.5666 3
The Greens303,3087.06 0.52110
Free Democratic Party257,8736.01 0.109−1
Patriots for Germany [de]11,2840.26New0New
German Communist Party5,6900.13−0.1500
The Whites3,8580.09New0New
Citizens' Party [de]1980.00 0.0000
German Solidarity [de]380.00New0New
Young Voters Association170.00New0New
Independents1640.00 0.0000
Total4,293,146100.00155−16
Valid votes4,293,14699.37
Invalid/blank votes27,2010.63
Total votes4,320,347100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,588,59777.31

Formation of a government

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The CDU formed a coalition with the FDP, which had a majority of one vote.  Albrecht was then confirmed as Minister President. Schröder resigned from his Bundestag mandate and moved into state politics as SPD parliamentary group leader and opposition leader.

In December 1988, a constructive vote of no confidence against Albrecht, brought by the SPD parliamentary group because of the casino affair, failed by 76 votes to 79. At least one member of the opposition parties SPD and Greens must have voted for Albrecht.

See also

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Further reading

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  • Forschungsgruppe Wahlen: Wahl in Niedersachsen. Eine Analyse der Landtagswahl am 15. Juni 1986. Mannheim 1986.
  • Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft (Hg.): Niedersachsen 1990. Landtagswahl am 15. Juni 1986; Analysen und Dokumente, Bad Godesberg 1986.
  • Claus A. Fischer (Hrsg.): Wahlhandbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Daten zu Bundestags-, Landtags- und Europawahlen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in den Ländern und in den Kreisen 1946–1989, 2. Halbband, Paderborn 1990.
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References

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  1. ^ "Landtagswahl in Niedersachsen 1986". www.da-ra.de. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  2. ^ "Chernobyl's political fallout". Washington Post. June 17, 1986.
  3. ^ "Former German politician, Ernst Albrecht, dies – DW – 12/13/2014". dw.com. Retrieved 2024-10-18.