2011 Rhineland-Palatinate state election

The 2011 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 27 March 2011 to elect the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) government led by Minister-President Kurt Beck lost its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with The Greens, and Beck continued in office.^[1]

2011 Rhineland-Palatinate state election

← 2006 27 March 2011 2016 →
All 101 seats of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate 51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,868,187 (61.8%) 3.2%
First party Second party   Leader Kurt Beck Julia Klöckner Party SPD CDU Last election 53 seats, 45.6% 38 seats, 32.8% Seats won 42 41 Seat change 11 3 Popular vote 666,817 658,474 Percentage 35.7% 35.2% Swing 9.9% 2.4%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Eveline Lemke Daniel Köbler Herbert Mertin Party Greens FDP Last election 0 seats, 4.6% 8.0% Seats won 18 0 Seat change 18 10 Popular vote 288,489 79,343 Percentage 15.4% 4.2% Swing 10.8% 3.8%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Government before election Fourth Beck cabinet SPD Government after election Fifth Beck cabinet SPD–Green

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2006 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Kurt Beck	45.6%	53 / 101
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Julia Klöckner	32.8%	38 / 101
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Herbert Mertin	8.0%	10 / 101

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	FDP	Grüne	Linke	Others	Lead
2011 state election	27 Mar 2011	–	35.7	35.2	4.2	15.4	3.0	6.4	0.5
Emnid	18–24 Mar 2011	1,000	38	35	5	13	4	5	3
Emnid	11–17 Mar 2011	1,000	37	34	6	14	4	5	3
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	15–17 Mar 2011	1,300	37	35	5	13	4	6	2
Infratest dimap	14–17 Mar 2011	1,250	36	36	5	13	4	6	Tie
Psephos	8–11 Mar 2011	1,003	40	35	5	10	4	6	5
Emnid	4–10 Mar 2011	1,000	39	34	6	10	5	6	5
Infratest dimap	4–7 Mar 2011	1,000	38	36	7	10	5	4	2
Emnid	24 Feb–1 Mar 2011	1,000	40	34	5	11	5	5	6
Emnid	18–24 Feb 2011	1,001	38	36	5	12	5	4	2
Emnid	11–17 Feb 2011	1,001	38	35	5	12	5	5	3
Infratest dimap	11–14 Feb 2011	1,000	38	36	5	12	4	5	2
Emnid	4–10 Feb 2011	1,002	40	34	4	13	5	4	6
Emnid	31 Jan–3 Feb 2011	1,001	38	36	4	13	5	6	2
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	31 Jan–2 Feb 2011	1,060	37	35	5	13	4	6	2
Infratest dimap	21–24 Jan 2011	1,001	37	37	5	13	5	3	Tie
Emnid	1–15 Dec 2010	1,002	39	37	4	11	4	5	2
Psephos	6–11 Dec 2010	1,001	41	35	5	10	5	?	6
Infratest dimap	3–6 Dec 2010	1,000	35	35	5	16	5	4	Tie
Infratest dimap	17–20 Sep 2010	1,000	36	34	4	16	5	5	2
Psephos	6–10 Sep 2010	1,002	42	34	6	8	5	5	8
Psephos	11–17 Jun 2010	1,007	41	33	8	7	5	6	7
Infratest dimap	16–19 Apr 2010	1,000	35	37	8	11	5	4	2
Psephos	9–13 Mar 2010	1,005	39	34	10	7	5	5	5
Infratest dimap	8–11 Dec 2009	1,003	36	36	11	7	3	6	Tie
Infratest dimap	4–7 Dec 2009	1,000	32	38	10	9	6	5	6
Infratest dimap	11–14 Sep 2009	1,000	33	35	13	7	7	5	2
Psephos	9–14 Sep 2009	1,003	36	33	14	7	6	5	3
Psephos	16–20 Jun 2009	1,000	38	31	13	7	5	6	7
Infratest dimap	22–25 May 2009	1,000	36	36	12	7	5	4	Tie
Psephos	11–17 Mar 2009	1,003	38	32	13	8	4	5	6
Psephos	4–10 Dec 2008	1,003	41	34	11	6	5	3	7
Infratest dimap	4–8 Dec 2008	1,000	36	35	12	8	5	4	1
polis+sinus	29 Oct–15 Nov 2008	1,512	39	35	11	7	4	4	4
Infratest dimap	15–16 Sep 2008	1,000	38	38	9	6	5	4	Tie
Psephos	2–9 Sep 2008	1,439	38	35	11	5	7	4	3
Infratest dimap	29 Aug–2 Sep 2008	1,000	36	38	10	6	6	4	2
Psephos	9–12 Jun 2008	1,004	37	36	11	6	7	3	1
Infratest dimap	8–9 Apr 2008	1,000	37	37	9	7	6	4	Tie
Infratest dimap	11–12 Mar 2008	1,000	39	37	8	7	7	2	2
Psephos	1–7 Mar 2008	1,001	40	34	10	6	5	?	6
Psephos	8–13 Dec 2007	1,003	42	33	10	4.5	5.5	5	9
Infratest dimap	5–10 Dec 2007	1,000	42	37	8	6	4	3	5
Psephos	11–15 Sep 2007	1,003	43	33	9	5	–	10	10
Forsa	6–28 Aug 2007	1,061	40	34	8	5	6	7	6
Infratest dimap	20–23 Jul 2007	1,000	43	36	6	6	5	4	7
Psephos	7–11 May 2007	1,006	44	32	10	6	3	5	12
Forsa	26 Apr 2007	?	43	31	9	6	4	7	12
Infratest dimap	20–23 Apr 2007	1,000	43	33	8	7	3	6	10
Forsa	20 Feb–20 Mar 2007	1,006	45	29	9	6	4	7	16
Psephos	5–9 Mar 2007	1,001	46	31	8	6	3	6	15
Psephos	11–16 Dec 2006	1,002	45	31	10	5	2	7	14
Infratest dimap	8–11 Dec 2006	1,000	43	31	11	7	2	6	12
Psephos	11–14 Sep 2006	1,004	46	31	9	5	4	5	15
Forsa	9–15 Aug 2006	1,001	46	26	10	6	5	7	20
Infratest dimap	10–11 Jul 2006	1,000	46	31	9	6	3	5	15
Infratest dimap	15–16 May 2006	1,000	43	31	11	5	2	8	12
2006 state election	26 Mar 2006	–	45.6	32.8	8.0	4.6	2.6	6.4	12.8

Election result

Summary of the 27 March 2011 election results for the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	666,817	35.7	9.9	42	11	41.6
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	658,474	35.2	2.4	41	3	40.6
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	288,489	15.4	10.8	18	18	17.8
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	79,343	4.2	3.8	0	10	0
	The Left (Linke)	56,054	3.0	0.4[a]	0	±0[b]	0
	Free Voters (FW)	43,348	2.3	0.7	0	±0	0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	29,319	1.6	New	0	New	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	20,586	1.1	0.1	0	±0	0
	Others	25,757	1.4		0	±0	0
Total		1,868,187	100.0		101	±0
Voter turnout			61.8	3.2

Popular Vote SPD   35.69% CDU   35.25% B'90/GRÜNE   15.44% FDP   4.25% DIE LINKE   3.00% Other   6.37%

Landtag seats SPD   41.58% CDU   40.59% B'90/GRÜNE   17.82%

Notes

1. Compared to results for WASG (2.6%).
2. Compared to results for WASG (2.6%).