Die Bürgerschaftswahl in Bremen vom 22. Mai 2011: Triumph für Rot-Grün, "Abwahl" der Opposition
In: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen: ZParl, Volume 42, Issue 4, p. 804-819
ISSN: 0340-1758
"Confronted with an utterly divided and quarrelling opposition, the coalition partners SPD and Greens managed to achieve an overwhelming victory in the Bremen state election and to win a two-thirds majority of seats in the parliament. This success represents an exception among all governing coalitions in the state elections held during the super election year 2011. The Opposition parties (CDU, the Liberal Party (FDP), and the LEFT), on the contrary, lost altogether 11.6 percent of the votes. For the first time in German state elections, the Greens left behind even the CDU, while the Liberal Party failed to cross the five per-cent hurdle. The victory of the governing parties can be traced back not only to the disastrous condition of the opposition parties but also to the positive evaluation of their competence in all relevant policy fields and of their government performance by the voters, and this despite of rather considerable financial and social problems in the state of Bremen. The SPD's vote increase can also be credited to their top candidate Jens Böhrnsen, who enjoyed high popularity and competence ratings. Considering the excellent result for the Greens, the analysis reveals that they benefited from their strong ecological profile alter the nuclear catastrophe in Japan. It reflects the shift of power relations between the coalition partners in favor of the Greens that they claimed to hold three instead of two seats in the new Senate." (author's abstract)