1997 Hamburg state election

The 1997 Hamburg state election was held on 21 September 1997 to elect the members of the 16th Hamburg Parliament.^[1] The incumbent government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Statt Party under First Mayor Henning Voscherau was defeated as Statt lost all its seats. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with the Green Alternative List (GAL). Voscherau declined to run for re-election as First Mayor due to the SPD's poor performance, and fellow SPD member Ortwin Runde succeeded him.

1997 Hamburg state election

← 1993 21 September 1997 2001 →
All 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament 61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	822,511 (68.7%) 1.2%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Henning Voscherau Party SPD CDU Greens Last election 58 seats, 40.4% 36 seats, 25.1% 19 seats, 13.5% Seats won 54 46 21 Seat change 4 10 2 Popular vote 297,901 252,640 114,387 Percentage 36.2% 30.7% 13.9% Swing 4.2% 5.6% 0.4%
Mayor before election Henning Voscherau SPD Elected Mayor Ortwin Runde SPD

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 15th Hamburg Parliament.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1993 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Henning Voscherau	40.4%	58 / 121
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy		25.1%	36 / 121
	GAL	Green Alternative List Grün-Alternative-Liste Hamburg	Green politics		13.5%	19 / 121
	STATT	STATT - Party of Independents STATT - Partei Die Unabhängigen	Populism		5.6%	8 / 121

Election result

Summary of the 21 September 1997 election results for the Hamburg Parliament

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	297,901	36.2	4.2	54	4	44.6
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	252,640	30.7	5.6	46	10	38.0
	Green Alternative List (GAL)	114,387	13.9	0.4	21	2	17.4
	German People's Union (DVU)	40,957	4.98	2.2	0	±0	0
	Statt Party (STATT)	31,401	3.8	1.8	0	8	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	28,664	3.5	0.7	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	15,207	1.8	3.0	0	±0	0
	League of Citizens (BfB)	10,914	1.3	1.3	0	±0	0
	Others	30,440	3.7		0	±0	0
Total		822,511	100.0		121	±0
Voter turnout			68.7	1.2

Popular Vote SPD   36.22% CDU   30.72% GAL   13.91% DVU   4.98% STATT   3.82% FDP   3.48% REP   1.85% Other   5.03%

Bürgerschaft seats SPD   44.63% CDU   38.02% GAL   17.36%

See also

• Elections in Germany
• Elections in Hamburg
• Hamburg state elections in the Weimar Republic