2004 Hamburg state election

The 2004 Hamburg state election was held on 29 February 2004 to elect the members of the 18th Hamburg Parliament. The election was triggered by the collapse of the coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Party for a Rule of Law Offensive (PRO), and Free Democratic Party (FDP). The election saw a collapse in support for PRO which had split after its leader Ronald Schill left in 2003. The original party and Schill's new party captured 3.5% of the vote between them, down from 19.4% in 2001. A huge amount of support flowed to the CDU, which won 63 of the 121 seats in Parliament, forming a majority government. First Mayor Ole von Beust continued in office.^[1]

2004 Hamburg state election

← 2001 29 February 2004 2008 →
All 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament 61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	824,317 (68.7%) 2.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ole von Beust Thomas Mirow Party CDU SPD Greens Last election 33 seats, 26.2% 46 seats, 36.5% 11 seats, 8.6% Seats won 63 41 17 Seat change 30 5 6 Popular vote 389,170 251,441 101,227 Percentage 47.2% 30.5% 12.3% Swing 21.0% 6.0% 3.7%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Mario Mettbach Party FDP PRO Last election 6 seats, 5.1% 25 seats, 19.4% Seats won 0 0 Seat change 6 25 Popular vote 23,373 3,046 Percentage 2.8% 0.4% Swing 2.3% 19.0%
Mayor before election Ole von Beust CDU Elected Mayor Ole von Beust CDU

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 17th Hamburg Parliament.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2001 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Thomas Mirow	36.5%	46 / 121
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Ole von Beust	26.2%	33 / 121
	PRO	Party for a Rule of Law Offensive Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive	Right-wing populism	Mario Mettbach	19.4%	25 / 121
	GAL	Green Alternative List Grün-Alternative-Liste Hamburg	Green politics		8.6%	11 / 121
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism		5.1%	6 / 121

Background

In August 2003, Mayor von Beust made moves to dismiss an Interior official suspected of corruption. In response, Senator of the Interior Ronald Schill threatened to spread rumours of an affair between von Beust and the Senator of Justice. Schill was subsequently dismissed from the government. In December of the same year, Schill left his own party along with five of its members of Parliament, depriving the government of its majority. He subsequently joined Pro DM.^[2]

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	PRO	GAL	FDP	ProDM	Others	Lead
2004 state election	29 Feb 2004	–	30.5	47.2	0.4	12.3	2.8	3.1	3.7	16.7
Emnid	20–26 Feb 2004	1,009	30	44	1	14	4	4	3	14
Emnid	24 Feb 2004	1,000	30	46	1	13	3	3	4	16
Forsa	18–23 Feb 2004	1,005	29	45	1	14	4	3	4	16
Psephos	19–22 Feb 2004	1,003	30	46	1	12	3.5	3.5	4	16
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	16–19 Feb 2004	1,008	29	47	–	13	4	3	4	18
Infratest dimap	12–16 Feb 2004	1,000	29	45	1	14	4	4	3	16
Forsa	10–14 Feb 2004	1,002	30	45	1	14	4	3	3	15
Forsa	6–9 Feb 2004	804	29	46	1	14	4	3	3	17
Infratest dimap	28 Jan–1 Feb 2004	1,000	30	45	1	15	3	3	3	15
Forsa	20–24 Jan 2004	1,001	28	48	1	13	4	3	3	20
Emnid	19 Jan 2004	1,000	31	46	2	12	4	2	3	15
Infratest dimap	8–12 Jan 2004	1,000	30	45	1	13	4	4	3	15
Psephos	9 Jan 2004	1,002	30	47	2	11	2	4	4	17
Forsa	17 Dec 2003	?	31	46	3	13	4	–	3	15
Infratest	10–11 Dec 2003	1,000	33	43	4	12	4	–	4	10
Emnid	10 Dec 2003	1,000	37	43	2	12	4	–	2	6
Psephos	9–10 Dec 2003	808	36	41	5	11	3	–	4	5
Infratest dimap	8–9 Dec 2003	1,000	35	40	5	13	4	–	3	5
Emnid	2–3 Dec 2003	1,000	35	41	5	13	3	–	3	6
Psephos	10 Oct 2003	?	37	39	6	10	4	–	4	2
Infratest dimap	5–9 Sep 2003	1,000	36	39	5	13	4	–	3	3
Psephos	23 Aug 2003	731	36	40	6	10	5	–	3	4
NFO Infratest	20–21 Aug 2003	~1,000	37	40	5	11	4	–	3	3
Emnid	20 Aug 2003	1,002	35	38	6	13	5	–	3	3
Emnid	4–5 Feb 2003	1,000	26	42	12	13	5	–	2	16
Psephos	25 Oct 2002	1,003	36	34	8	13	5	–	4	2
Emnid	7 Feb 2002	?	37	32	12	9	6	–	4	5
Emnid	2–4 Feb 2002	1,008	40	32	10	11	4	–	3	8
Psephos	2 Feb 2002	1,003	36	32	14	9	5	–	4	4
Forsa	22–23 Jan 2002	1,001	35	31	15	10	4	–	5	4
2001 state election	23 Sep 2001	–	36.5	26.2	19.4	8.6	5.1	0.2	4.0	10.3

Election result

Summary of the 29 February 2004 election results for the Hamburg Parliament

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	389,170	47.2	21.0	63	30	52.1
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	251,441	30.5	6.0	41	5	33.9
	Green Alternative List (GAL)	101,227	12.3	3.7	17	6	14.0
	Pro Deutsche Mitte – Initiative Pro D-Mark (Pro DM)	25,763	3.1	2.9	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	23,373	2.8	2.3	0	6	0
	Rainbow – For a new left (REGENBOGEN)	9,200	1.1	0.6	0	±0	0
	The Grays – Gray Panthers (GRAUEN)	8,878	1.1	1.1	0	±0	0
	Others	15,265	1.9		0	25	0
Total		824,317	100.0		121	±0
Voter turnout			68.7	2.4

Popular Vote CDU   47.21% SPD   30.50% GAL   12.28% PRO DM   3.13% FDP   2.84% Other   4.04%

Bürgerschaft seats CDU   52.07% SPD   33.88% GAL   14.05%

See also

• Hamburg state elections in the Weimar Republic
• 2008 Hamburg state election