1996 Schleswig-Holstein state election

The 1996 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 24 March 1996 to elect the members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) government led by Minister-President Heide Simonis lost its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with The Greens, and Simonis continued in office.

1996 Schleswig-Holstein state election

24 March 1996
All 75 seats in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein 38 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,502,088 (71.8%) 0.1%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Heide Simonis Ottfried Hennig Party SPD CDU Greens Last election 45 seats, 46.2% 32 seats, 33.8% 0 seats, 5.0% Seats won 33 30 6 Seat change 12 2 6 Popular vote 597,751 559,107 121,939 Percentage 39.8% 37.2% 8.1% Swing 6.4% 3.4% 3.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party FDP DVU SSW Last election 5 seats, 5.6% 6 seats, 6.3% 1 seat, 1.9% Seats won 4 0 2 Seat change 1 6 1 Popular vote 86,227 64,335 38,285 Percentage 5.7% 4.3% 2.5% Swing 0.1% 2.0% 0.6%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Minister-President before election Heide Simonis SPD Elected Minister-President Heide Simonis SPD

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1992 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Heide Simonis	46.2%	45 / 89
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Ottfried Hennig	33.8%	32 / 89
	DVU	German People's Union Deutsche Volksunion	German nationalism		6.3%	6 / 89
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism		5.6%	5 / 89
	SSW	South Schleswig Voters' Association Südschleswigscher Wählerverband	Danish and Frisian minority interests		1.9%	1 / 89

Election result

Summary of the 24 March 1996 election results for the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	597,751	39.8	6.4	33	12	44.0
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	559,107	37.2	3.4	30	2	40.0
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	121,939	8.1	3.1	6	6	8.0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	86,227	5.7	0.1	4	1	5.3
	South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW)	38,285	2.5	0.6	2	1	2.7
	German People's Union (DVU)	64,335	4.3	2.0	0	6	0
	Voters' Community of Schleswig-Holstein (WSH)	28,206	1.9	1.9	0	±0	0
	Others	6,238	0.4		0	±0	0
Total		1,502,088	100.0		75	14
Voter turnout			71.8	0.1

Popular Vote SPD   39.79% CDU   37.22% B'90/GRÜNE   8.12% FDP   5.74% DVU   4.28% SSW   2.55% Other   2.29%

Landtag seats SPD   44.00% CDU   40.00% B'90/GRÜNE   8.00% FDP   5.33% SSW   2.67%

Sources

• Wahlen in Schleswig-Holstein seit 1947