Information

After a range of failures in building a regular government out of the elections in January 2008, the voters of the federal county of Hesse had to elect a new regional parliament on 18 January 2009.

These  extraordinary elections  turned ou t to be the first elections in a year when German citizens are requested to a whole series of elections – besides the European elections (7 June), the Bundestag-elections (27 September), and also municipial and other Landtag-elections (state parliaments) in Saar, Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.

While in 2008 people clearly had wanted a political change and wished to drop the conservative prime minister Roland Koch, the elections of 2009 turned out to be a lesson to the voters for the political parties. The Conservatives (CDU) won the elections with 37.2% (+0.4%), while the Social-Democrats (SPD) who had been neck to neck with the CDU in 2008 (36.7%) lost 13.0% of the votes and witnessed a political disaster. The SPD payed the price for two pre-election promises in 2008 which finally came out contradictory: to replace the Koch government, but not with the support of the Left. Behind this concrete case of Hesse stood the dispute within the SPD over the future political orientation of the party, and its place in the political landscape. Andrea Ypsilanti, the former challenger to Roland Koch in 2008, resigned on the eve of January 18th from his posts as the party and the parliamentary faction leader in Hesse. The smaller parties profited from the situation: the liberals (FDP) got 16.2% of the votes (+6.8%), the Greens got 13.7% (+6.2%). DIE LINKE got 5.4% (+0.3%) and, for the first time since its existence, succeeded to re-enter a parliament in a state of western Germany. The two running extreme right parties NPD and Republicans got both less than 1% (0.9% resp. 0.6%) and scored even less than in 2008. The general turnout of 61% of the voters was the lowest in Hesse since 1954. A new government coalition of CDU and FDP is now more likely to transpire.

The success in Hesse is of tremendous importance for the party DIE LINKE. The party could stand up against a harsh political and media campaigning against it. It has become a constant political factor in the state of Hesse, and could work out its own political profile with a strong social core. After only one year, the party seems to have won a stable voter base in Hesse. This is a good starting point to continue and to push the party construction process forward. The party will have the time now to sharpen its profile as a remarkable opposition force to the CDU-FDP government, and in clear distinguish ability from SPD and Greens. This is an important task and challenge too for the general further development of DIE LINKE in all Germany. DIE LINKE can build on its authenticity in points such as the abolition of tuition fees – a pre-election purpose in 2008 that was finally realized with a SPD, Greens, and Left majority in Parliament.

According to surveys, DIE LINKE was most identified amongst the voters with the field of social justice and combating unemployment. Surveys show also that the economic and financial crisis did not have a noteworthy impact on the decision of the voters during these elections. DIE LINKE of Hesse got its best results in regions with a high population density (6.3%), in regions with high unemployment, (6.9% of the votes) and in regions whose economy is marked by the services sector (5.9%). Concerning the age of the voters, DIE LINKE got its best results amongst the voters aged between 45 and 60 years (7%), but could win amongst younger people (2% to reach 6% amongst people from 30 to 44 years and 1% to reach 5% amongst people younger than 30 years). The party got 6% of votes amongst people with higher educational qualifications and only 4% amongst people with lower qualification. 18% of the unemployed people and 8% of the workers voted for DIE LINKE.

DIE LINKE conducted a successful election campaign that was marked by a high mobilisation of members and sympathizers in the region itself, and an important solidarity mobilisation from other party states organisations. This was notable especially in the neighbouring states of Thuringia and Saxony and from Berlin when a unprecedented campaign of political, anti-communist, anti-left attacks against the party of Hesse and nation-wide had been forwarded by other parties and in particular the media.

The Hesse elections also had an impact to the membership development: 200 new members have signed since the beginning of the year 2009, about 52 new members signed on the very same election day.

The elections in Hesse started the German "super electoral year" 2009, with European and national, important regional elections (Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia in August, and Brandenburg in September – in all these states DIE LINKE is challenging the governing parties and running for prime ministers), and local elections in eight states, amongst them important West German states (June). "This is an optimistic and a clearly positive upbeat for this year", stated DIE LINKE chairman Lothar Bisky.