2019 Bremen state election

The 2019 Bremen state election was held on 26 May 2019 to elect the members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen, as well as the city councils of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The election took place on the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election.^[1][2][3]

2019 Bremen state election

← 2015 26 May 2019 2023 →
All 84 seats of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen 43 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,469,506 (64.1%) 13.9%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Carsten Meyer-Heder Carsten Sieling Maike Schaefer Party CDU SPD Greens Last election 20 seats, 22.4% 30 seats, 32.8% 14 seats, 15.1% Seats won 24 23 16 Seat change 4 7 2 Popular vote 391,709 366,375 256,181 Percentage 26.7% 24.9% 17.4% Swing 4.3% 7.9% 2.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kristina Vogt Frank Magnitz Lencke Wischhusen Party Left AfD FDP Last election 8 seats, 9.5% 4 seats, 5.5% 6 seats, 6.6% Seats won 10 5 5 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 166,378 89,939 87,420 Percentage 11.3% 6.1% 5.9% Swing 1.8% 0.6% 0.7%   Seventh party   Leader Hinrich Lührssen Party Citizens in Rage Last election 1 seat, 3.2% Seats won 1 Seat change 0 Popular vote 35,808 Percentage 2.4% Swing 0.8%
Government before election Sieling senate SPD–Green Government after election Bovenschulte senate SPD–Green–Left

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party in the Bürgerschaft, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) fell to second place. The Greens and The Left also recorded small upswings.

Despite winning a narrow plurality, the CDU was opposed by a left-wing majority in the Bürgerschaft. Incumbent Mayor Carsten Sieling resigned after the election, and was succeeded by fellow SPD member Andreas Bovenschulte, who formed a three-party coalition government between the SPD, Greens, and Left. This was the first time that The Left had been involved in a government in western Germany.^[4][5]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Bürgerschaft of Bremen.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2015 result		2019 seats
					Votes (%)	Seats	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Carsten Sieling	32.8%	30 / 83	31 / 83
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Carsten Meyer-Heder	22.4%	20 / 83	20 / 83
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Maike Schaefer	15.1%	14 / 83	12 / 83
	Linke	The Left Die Linke	Democratic socialism	Kristina Vogt	9.5%	8 / 83	8 / 83
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Lencke Wischhusen	6.6%	6 / 83	6 / 83
	AfD	Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland	German nationalism Right-wing populism	Frank Magnitz	5.5%	4 / 83	1 / 83
	BiW	Citizens in Rage Bürger in Wut	Right-wing populism	Hinrich Lührssen	3.2%	1 / 83	3 / 83

Opinion polls

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	Grüne	Linke	FDP	AfD	Others	Lead
2019 state election	26 May 2019	–	24.9	26.7	17.4	11.3	5.9	6.1	7.7	1.8
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	20–23 May 2019	1,664	24.5	26	18	12	5	7	7.5	1.5
INSA	15–20 May 2019	1,000	23	28	18	11	6	6	8	5
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	13–15 May 2019	1,021	24.5	26	18	12	5.5	8	6	1.5
Infratest dimap	13–15 May 2019	1,007	24	27	18	12	5	6	8	3
Infratest dimap	25 Apr–2 May 2019	1,000	25	26	18	12	6	8	5	1
INSA	22 Mar–1 Apr 2019	1,000	25	25	19	11	7	7	6	Tie
Infratest dimap	24–30 Jan 2019	1,000	24	25	18	13	6	8	6	1
FGW Telefonfeld	20–23 Aug 2018	1,015	26	26	20	12	7	6	3	Tie
pollytix	22 Jun–2 Jul 2018	1,000	28	24	14	14	10	8	2	4
INSA	14–18 May 2018	1,003	22	24	14	17	9	10	4	2
Infratest dimap	13–18 Apr 2018	1,002	26	24	14	15	7	9	5	2
2017 federal election	24 Sep 2017	–	26.8	25.1	11.1	13.1	9.3	10.0	4.3	1.7
Infratest dimap	9–14 Jan 2017	1,003	29	24	13	11	8	11	4	5
Infratest dimap	26 Apr–2 May 2016	1,000	29	22	16	10	7	11	5	7
2015 state election	10 May 2015	–	32.8	22.4	15.1	9.5	6.6	5.5	8.0	10.4

Mayor polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date			None/Unsure	Lead
		Sieling SPD	Meyer-Heder CDU
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	26 May 2019	45	34	-	11
Infratest dimap	26 May 2019	42	36	-	6
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	23 May 2019	43	31	26	12
Infratest dimap	16 May 2019	42	28	17	14
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	16 May 2019	42	29	29	13
Infratest dimap Archived 2019-05-09 at the Wayback Machine	7 May 2019	39	31	18	8

Preferred coalition

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Assessment	SPD Grüne		SPD Grüne Linke			CDU Grüne		SPD CDU		CDU Grüne FDP			SPD Grüne FDP
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	May 2019	Positive	41		39			28		27		26			20
		Negative	57		59			68		70		71			76

Election result

Map of results by constituency

Summary of the 26 May 2019 election results for the Bürgerschaft of Bremen

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats		Total seats	+/-	Seats %
					Bremen	Bremerhaven
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	391,709	26.7	4.3	20	4	24	4	28.6
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	366,375	24.9	7.9	19	4	23	7	27.4
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	256,181	17.4	2.3	13	3	16	2	19.0
	The Left (Linke)	166,378	11.3	1.8	9	1	10	2	11.9
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	89,939	6.1	0.6	4	1	5	1	6.0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	87,420	5.9	0.7	4	1	5	1	6.0
	Citizens in Rage (BiW)	35,808	2.4	0.8	0	1	1	0	1.2
	Die PARTEI (PARTEI)	24,433	1.7	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	Free Voters (FW)	14,205	1.0	1.0	0	0	0	±0	0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	14,143	1.0	0.5	0	0	0	±0	0
	Party of Humanists (Humanists)	6,655	0.5	0.5	0	0	0	±0	0
	Basic Income Alliance (BGE)	5,970	0.4	0.4	0	0	0	±0	0
	V-Partei³ (V³)	4,277	0.3	0.3	0	0	0	±0	0
	Welcome to Reality (WIR)	2,821	0.2	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	Human World (MW)	2,565	0.2	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	The Right (Right)	627	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	±0	0
Total		1,469,506	100.0		69	15	84	1
Voter turnout			64.1	13.9

2019 Bremen state election voter demographics ^[6]

Demographic subgroup	CDU	SPD	Grüne	Linke	AfD	FDP
Total vote	27	25	17	11	6	6
Gender
Men	26	23	15	11	9	6
Women	24	25	20	11	5	5
Education
lower Education	25	39	7	6	11	4
higher Education	24	19	23	14	4	6
Election decision (as % of their voters)
Disappointment	38	21	24	28	54	37
Conviction	55	69	71	64	42	57
Others
Last-Minute-Decision	22	25	18	11	4	7
First-time-Voter	11	15	34	14	4	10

Popular Vote CDU   26.66% SPD   24.93% B'90/GRÜNE   17.43% DIE LINKE   11.32% AfD   6.12% FDP   5.95% BiW   2.44% Other   5.15%

Bürgerschaft seats CDU   28.57% SPD   27.38% B'90/GRÜNE   19.05% DIE LINKE   11.90% AfD   5.95% FDP   5.95% BiW   1.19%