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The turnout of 51.5 percent in the 2011 federal state election is the lowest turnout in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 1990. A main reason might be that the campaigning for parties in a grand coalition is less confrontational and less polarizing. The SPD and the Greens reached significant gains in the election result. This is especially true for the Greens who for the first time are represented in the Schwerin parliament. Prime Minister Erwin Sellering and his party consolidated their position within the party competition of the federal state. Backed by positive frame conditions the social democrats proceeded into the role of a "Landespartei". This fact worked against the CDU, which has to cope with the worst election result since 1990. The structure of the new government symbolizes the change in the balance of power between the partners of the grand coalition. The party Die Linke stagnates at 20 percent of the votes and remains in third place. The FDP loses three fourths of their voters and cannot re-enter the parliament. The extremist NPD losses votes but can consolidate its electoral basis, especially in Western Pomerania. Adapted from the source document.

Regarding the effects of political internet communication on political participation, two positions oppose each other: While the normalization thesis contends that online communication reinforces already existing disparities within political participation, the mobilization thesis assumes that online communication can mobilize individuals who are not interested in politics. The paper contributes empirically to this debate by analyzing the effect of a popular online application, "Wahl-O-Mat", on voting intention at the 2009 German Federal Election. The findings support the mobilization thesis. Adapted from the source document.

"Since 2014, the Prime Minister of Thuringia is a member of The Left, a socialist party with roots in the former GDR. However, in the Western part of Germany The Left is hardly present in regional parliaments; a phenomenon that suggests important differences in voting behaviour in East and West. Looking at the voter turnout, the results of all relevant parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bundnis 90/Die Grunen, Die Linke/PDS, Die Republikaner, DVU, NPD) and the volatility for all elections to the Bundestag, the European Parliament and the parliaments of German Lander since 1990, a number of findings are surprising: the voter turnout is not essentially lower in the East than in the West and the volatility is not higher. Altogether there are both regional differences and similarities between East and West." (author's abstract)

The concept of European elections as second-order national elections serves as the basis for developing seven hypotheses about the orientations as well as the turnout and the electoral behaviour at European elections in comparison to national parliamentary elections. After a summary of the situation before the election, these hypotheses are empirically tested by analysing the campaign and results of the European election in Germany. The analysis by and large confirms the hypotheses. In the third part of the article, the analysis is extended to all 28 member states of the European Union in brief. The second-order election concept proves to remain a good starting basis for the analysis of European elections, although not every hypothesis is completely confirmed Europe-wide. Adapted from the source document.

Examines the June 2000 municipal election campaigns, results, and voter turnout in Romania; includes the parties which participated in the 1996 elections, revision of the Nov. 28, 1991 local electoral law, the particularities of the Bucharest and Sibiu elections, and other issues.

Twelve months after the preceding election, Hessian voters were again called to the polls. In the absence of any other feasible coalition option, the second election within a year became necessary after two failed attempts to form a red-green minority government supported by the Leftist party. Individual social-democratic MPs had refused supporting such a coalition. Hesse then saw a short, but not very intense campaign. Following the Social Democrats' disaster in forming a government, they experienced yet another disaster on election night, facing tremendous losses from which mostly the Greens & the Liberals (and not so much the Christian Democrats) benefited. Also, the Leftist Party was able to re-enter Parliament, while turnout was somewhat lower than before. As an overall result of the election, the Hessian state parliament was more fractionalized than ever before. Still, Christian Democrats & Liberals obtained a stable majority and -- following rather short negotiations -- agreed to form a coalition; Roland Koch was re-elected as the prime minister. The formation of this coalition also impacted federal politics: The "Grand Coalition" in Berlin can now no longer count on a stable majority of its own in the Bundesrat, but is dependent on the support of state governments ruling with third parties instead. Adapted from the source document.

Although Hesse had left the brief interregnum of so-called 'Hessian peculiarities' after the 2009 state elections and returned to a bloc-based black-yellow government of CDU and FDP, the legislative term was nevertheless turbulent. Roland Koch resigned after ten years of office as Prime Minister and Volker Bouffer followed him. The 2013 state elections coincided with the federal elections. State-specific aspects were consequently rather rare in the campaign. However, coalition issues are always particularly gripping in Hesse. Despite the fact that pre-electoral alliances were in line with the traditional patterns - red-green, black-yellow - the parties were open for other alternatives. On Election Day, the Christian Democrats came in first. The Social Democrats increased their vote share by seven percentage points after their disastrous 2009 result. The Greens received 11.1 percent, FDP and the Left Party just over five. Turnout was 73.2 percent, up by 12.2 percentage points - a direct result of the merger of the election dates. The outcome of the election gave none of the desired coalitions a majority, so there was a long period of exploratory talks. Ultimately, the Christian Democrats decided to offer the Greens coalition negotiations. These were concluded swiftly. In January 2014 Bouffer was confirmed in his office, now heading a black-green government. Adapted from the source document.

Es wird die Frage untersucht, ob in Ostdeutschland die Beteiligung an den Bundestagswahlen unter anderem deswegen geringer ist als in Westdeutschland, weil ostdeutsche Wähler weniger davon überzeugt sind, mittels der Beteiligung an politischen Wahlen persönlich die Politik beeinflussen zu können. Die empirischen Analysen erfolgen mit Querschnittdaten des ALLBUS 1998. Sie zeigen, dass sich die Einflusserwartungen in Ost und Westdeutschland nur zufällig voneinander unterscheiden. Daher können die Einflusserwartungen nicht das entscheidende Kriterium für die unterschiedlichen Wahlbeteiligungen sein. Von Bedeutung für die Stärke der Einflusserwartungen sind persönliche Überzeugungen über eigene politische Kompetenzen und Reaktivität des politischen Systems, deren Einflüsse bei den Ostdeutschen grosser sind als bei den Westdeutschen. (Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft / FUB)