2002 German federal election

none September 2022 Germany parliamentary 1998 German federal election 1998 yes 2002 09 22 2005 German federal election 2005 List of members of the 14th Bundestag List of members of the 15th Bundestag All 603 seats in the Bundestag 302 61,432,868 1.1% 48,582,761 (79.1%) 3.1 pp 2004-09-13, El canciller de Alemania (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Gerhard Schröder Social Democratic Party of Germany 40.9%, 298 seats 251 47 18,488,668 38.5% 2.4 pp Edmund Stoiber, Europapolitischer Dialog Berlin, 2003-2 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Edmund Stoiber CDU/CSU 35.1%, 245 seats 248 3 18,482,641 38.5% 3.4 pp Joschka Fischer, Europapolitischer Dialog Berlin, 2003 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Joschka Fischer Alliance 90/The Greens 6.7%, 47 seats 55 8 4,110,355 8.6% 1.9 pp Guido Westerwelle Headshot 2005.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Guido Westerwelle Free Democratic Party (Germany) 6.2%, 43 seats 47 4 3,538,815 7.4% 1.2 pp Foto von Gabi Zimmer.jpg 125 120 160 0 0 Gabi ZimmerZimmer was federal chairwoman of the PDS. She was one of four lead candidates appointed by the party congress. The others were Roland Claus, Dietmar Bartsch, and Petra Pau. Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) 5.1%, 36 seats 2 34 1,916,702 4.0% 1.1 pp 2002 German federal election.svg 400px Results of the election. The main map shows constituency winners, and results for the proportional list seats are shown in the bottom left. Government First Schröder cabinet SPD–Green Government after election Second Schröder cabinet SPD–Greens A federal election was held in Germany on 22 September 2002 to elect the members of the 15th Bundestag. Incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's centre-left "red-green" governing coalition retained a narrow majority, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) retained their status as the largest party in the Bundestag by three seats. Issues and campaign Several issues dominated the campaign, with the opposition CDU/CSU attacking the government's performance on the economy which fell back into recession due to the Telecoms crash and the introduction of the euro, as well as campaigning on family values and against taxes (particularly on fuel). In the run up to the election, the CSU/CDU held a huge lead in the opinion polls and Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Edmund Stoiber famously remarked that "...this election is like a football match where it's the second half and my team is ahead by 2–0."Jess Smee (17 January 2007), Stoiber quits after snooping row https://web.archive.org/web/20211016055730/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/19/germany.mainsection 16 October 2021 The Guardian. However, events soon overtook Stoiber and the CDU/CSU campaign. The SPD and the Greens were helped by broad support for its opposition to an invasion of Iraq, continued media attention on the CDU funding scandal and by Gerhard Schröder's personal popularity relative to the opposition's candidate for chancellor, Stoiber. The SPD was also boosted by Schröder's swift response to the August floods in eastern Germany, as compared to Stoiber, who was on vacation and responded late to the events.24 August 2002 Flooding makes a delight out of crisis for Schroder The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/flooding-makes-a-delight-out-of-crisis-for-schroder-1.1093020 21 July 2021 19 July 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210719060510/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/flooding-makes-a-delight-out-of-crisis-for-schroder-1.1093020 liveLooking Back at the 2002 Election dw.com https://www.dw.com/en/looking-back-at-the-2002-election/a-1642902 21 July 2021 21 July 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210721135930/https://www.dw.com/en/looking-back-at-the-2002-election/a-1642902 live With Guido Westerwelle, leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the FDP presented a chancellor candidate for the first time, usually a title reserved for the main election leaders of the SPD and CDU/CSU. This was met with general derision and Westerwelle was excluded from the chancellor television debate, the first one, against which he unsuccessfully sued. Contesting parties The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Bundestag: NameIdeologyLead candidate1998 resultParty-list votes (%)SeatsSPDSocial Democratic Party of Germany de Sozialdemokratische Partei DeutschlandsSocial democracyGerhard Schröder40.9%298 669 Social Democratic Party of GermanyCDU/CSUCDUChristian Democratic Union of Germanyde Christlich Demokratische Union DeutschlandsChristian democracyEdmund Stoiber28.4%245 669 CDU/CSUCSUChristian Social Union in BavariaThe Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag. CDU/CSU Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern6.7%CSU received 47.7% in Bavaria. It only fields candidates in Bavaria, where the CDU does not field candidates.GrüneAlliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die GrünenGreen politicsJoschka Fischer6.7%47 669 Alliance 90/The GreensFDPFree Democratic Party Freie Demokratische ParteiClassical liberalismGuido Westerwelle6.2%43 669 Free Democratic Party (Germany)PDSParty of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen SozialismusSocialismGabi Zimmer5.1%36 669 Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) Opinion polls centre|800px|thumb After a brief honeymoon period, the CDU/CSU overtook the SPD in opinion polling in early 1999. This dramatically reversed after the CDU donations scandal, and the SPD established a strong lead which it held throughout 2000 and 2001. The CDU/CSU retook first place at the beginning of election year, and combined with a strong FDP, the opposition held a clear lead over the SPD–Green incumbents through mid-August. Schröder's response to the floods that month buoyed the SPD's numbers, and put the CDU/CSU, FDP, and PDS on a downward trend. Polling during the final week of the campaign gave a narrow edge of the SPD, but also indicated the FDP would finish ahead of the Greens. Meanwhile, it was unclear if the PDS would win proportional seats, leaving the final outcome on a knife's edge. Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize SPD Union Grüne FDP PDS Others Lead 2005 federal election 22 Sep 2002 – 38.5 38.5 8.6 7.4 4.0 3.0 0.01 Forsa 20 Sep 2002 2,021 38.5–39.5 37.0–38.0 6.5–7.5 7.0–8.0 4.0–4.5 0.5–2.5 Allensbach 20 Sep 2002 37.5 37.0 7.5 9.5 4.5 4.0 0.5 Allensbach 6–15 Sep 2002 ~2,000 37.0 37.3 7.2 10.1 4.4 4.0 0.3 Emnid 14 Sep 2002 3,518 39 37 7 8 5 4 2 Forsa 9–14 Sep 2002 3,006 40 38 7 8 4 3 2 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 9–12 Sep 2002 1,326 40.0 37.0 7.0 7.5 4.5 4.0 3.0 Infratest dimap 9–12 Sep 2002 2,000 38.5 36.0 8.0 8.5 4.7 4.3 2.5 Results Although most opposition parties gained seats, and the result was in doubt for most of the election night, the governing coalition retained a narrow majority. In particular, the SPD was able to partially offset declines in their vote share in the West with an increase in the East, with the PDS falling below both the 5% threshold and the 3-seat threshold, either of which is required to qualify a party for top-up seats. Consequently, the PDS held only two directly elected seats. Party-list Constituency File:Germany Bundestag 2002.svg Social Democratic Party 18488668 80 20059967 171 251 −47 Christian Democratic Union 14167561 108 15336512 82 190 −8 Christian Social UnionCDU/CSU The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria call themselves sister parties. They do not compete against each other in the same geographical regions and they form one group within the Bundestag. 4315080 15 4311178 43 58 +11 Alliance 90/The Greens 4110355 54 2693794 1 55 +8 Free Democratic Party 3538815 47 2752796 0 47 +4 Party of Democratic Socialism 1916702 0 2079203 2 2 −34 Party for a Rule of Law Offensive 400476 0 120330 0 0 New The Republicans 280671 0 55947 0 0 0 National Democratic Party 215232 0 103209 0 0 0 Human Environment Animal Protection Party 159655 0 8858 0 0 0 The Grays – Gray Panthers 114224 0 75490 0 0 0 Party of Bible-abiding Christians 101645 0 71106 0 0 0 Ecological Democratic Party 56898 0 56593 0 0 0 Feminist Party 36832 0 2264 0 0 0 Family Party 30045 0 15138 0 0 0 Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität 16958 0 22531 0 0 0 Christian Centre 15440 0 2413 0 0 0 Bavaria Party 9379 0 6757 0 0 0 Party for Pension Justice and Family 7499 0 4363 0 0 New Departure for Civil Rights, Freedom and Health 4697 0 2895 0 0 New #0000FE Centre Party 3127 0 1823 0 0 0 Humanist Party 2485 0 1385 0 0 0 #FFA500 The Violets 2412 0 840 0 0 New Communist Party of Germany 1624 0 686 0 0 0 German Social Union 6003 0 0 0 German Communist Party 3953 0 0 0 Freedom Party 2003 0 0 0 #74B3DF Alliance for Germany 571 0 0 0 Independents and voter groups 43116 0 0 0 586281 741037 −66 61432868 61432868 Bundeswahlleiter thumbnail|320px|Seat results – SPD in red, Greens in green, PDS in purple, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black Results by state Second vote (Zweitstimme, or votes for party list) State results in % SPD CDU/CSUCDU/CSU GRÜNE FDP PDS all others Baden-Württemberg 33.5 42.8 11.4 7.8 1.0 3.5 Bavaria 26.1 58.6 7.6 4.5 0.7 2.5 Berlin 36.6 25.9 14.6 6.6 11.4 4.9 Brandenburg 46.4 22.3 4.5 5.8 17.2 3.8 Bremen 48.6 24.6 15.0 6.7 2.2 2.9 Hamburg 42.0 28.1 16.2 6.8 2.1 4.8 Hesse 39.7 37.1 10.7 8.2 1.3 3.0 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 41.7 30.3 3.5 5.4 16.3 2.8 Lower Saxony 47.8 34.5 7.3 7.1 1.0 2.3 North Rhine-Westphalia 43.0 35.1 8.9 9.4 1.2 2.4 Rhineland-Palatinate 38.2 40.3 7.9 9.3 1.0 3.3 Saarland 46.0 35.0 7.6 6.4 1.4 3.6 Saxony 33.3 33.6 4.6 7.3 16.2 4.9 Saxony-Anhalt 43.2 29.0 3.4 7.6 14.4 2.4 Schleswig-Holstein 42.9 36.0 9.4 8.0 1.3 2.4 Thuringia 39.9 29.4 4.3 5.9 17.0 3.5 Constituency seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonSPDCDUCSUPDSGrüneBaden-Württemberg37730Bavaria44143Berlin12921Brandenburg1010Bremen22Hamburg66Hesse21174Lower Saxony29254Mecklenburg-Vorpommern752North Rhine-Westphalia644519Rhineland-Palatinate1578Saarland44Saxony17413Saxony-Anhalt1010Schleswig-Holstein11101Thuringia1091Total299171824321 List seats StateTotalseatsSeats wonCDUSPDGrüneFDPCSUBaden-Württemberg3942096Bavaria51257415Berlin11632Brandenburg6411Bremen211Hamburg7421Hesse2313154Lower Saxony3418655Mecklenburg-Vorpommern321North Rhine-Westphalia7030151213Rhineland-Palatinate155523Saarland5311Saxony12822Saxony-Anhalt8611Schleswig-Holstein11722Thuringia7511Total30410880544715 Post-election The coalition between the SPD and the Greens continued in government, with Schröder as chancellor. However, due to the slim majority in the Bundestag, the governing coalition was not stable. Notes References Further reading Pulzer Peter April 2003 The devil they know: The German federal election of 2002 West European Politics 26 2 153–164 10.1080/01402380512331341151 Sources The Federal Returning Officer Psephos External links Category:Federal elections in Germany Federal election Federal election