Die niedersächsische Landtagswahl vom 27. Januar 2008: Popularität, Wahlstrategie und Oppositionsschwäche sichern Ministerpräsident Christian Wulff die schwarz-gelbe Mehrheit
In: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen: ZParl, Band 39, Heft 2, S. 282-299
ISSN: 0340-1758
In the campaign for the Lower Saxony state parliament election in January 2008, prime minister Christian Wulff enjoyed the role of the clear favorite. This situation cannot only be attributed to his personal popularity. It can also be explained by (1) a strategically designed government policy of distributing costs and benefits over time with an eye on the election day, (2) a positive economic trend and (3) a striking weakness of the opposing Social Democratic Party (SPD). After a calm election campaign, the voter turnout sank to the lowest level ever measured in state parliament elections in Lower Saxony. In spite of remarkable losses, prime minister Wulffs Christian Democratic Party (CDU) remained the strongest party and is able to continue its coalition government with the liberals (FDP). The SPD lost further votes and had to face their lowest results ever in state elections in this Land. While the Green Party kept its share, the new Left Party (Linkspartei) was the only party to collect a substantial amount of new votes and entered the state parliament of Lower Saxony for the first time. With his successful re-election as prime minister and the simultaneous failure of Roland Koch, his CDU rival, in Hesse, Wulff clearly won the battle for being number two in the internal hierarchy of this party on the federal level. (Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen / FUB)