2006 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

The 2006 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election was held on 17 September 2006 to elect the members of the 5th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) led by Minister-President Harald Ringstorff was returned with a reduced majority. However, the SPD chose not to continue the coalition. They instead formed a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Ringstorff was subsequently re-elected as Minister-President.

2006 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

17 September 2006
All 71 seats in the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 36 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	818,061 (59.2%) 11.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Harald Ringstorff Jürgen Seidel Wolfgang Methling Party SPD CDU PDS Last election 33 seats, 40.6% 25 seats, 31.4% 13 seats, 16.4% Seats won 23 22 13 Seat change 10 3 0 Popular vote 247,312 235,350 137,253 Percentage 30.2% 28.8% 16.8% Swing 10.4% 2.6% 0.4%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Michael Roolf Udo Pastörs Party FDP NPD Last election 0 seats, 4.7% 0 seats, 0.8% Seats won 7 6 Seat change 7 6 Popular vote 78,440 59,845 Percentage 9.6% 7.3% Swing 4.9% 6.5%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Minister-President before election Harald Ringstorff SPD Elected Minister-President Harald Ringstorff SPD

The Far Right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) won 6 seats.

Issues and campaign

The economy was a major issue throughout the campaign. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's unemployment rate was among the worst in Germany. The possibility of the far-right NPD entering the parliament also became an issue late in the campaign, with all established parties condemning it.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 4th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2002 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Harald Ringstorff	20.6%	33 / 71
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Jürgen Seidel	31.4%	25 / 71
	PDS	Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus	Democratic socialism	Wolfgang Methling	16.4%	13 / 71

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	PDS	FDP	Grüne	NPD	Others	Lead
2006 state election	17 Sep 2006	–	30.2	28.8	16.8	9.6	3.4	7.3	3.9	1.4
Emnid	5–7 Sep 2006	500	29	31	21	7	3	7	2	2
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	4–7 Sep 2006	1,116	29	33	18	7	4	7	2	4
Infratest dimap	4–6 Sep 2006	1,000	31	30	20	7	4	6	2	1
Infratest dimap	27–30 Aug 2006	1,000	30	31	21	6	4	6	2	1
Emnid	22–24 Aug 2006	500	28	31	23	7	3	4	4	3
Infratest dimap	20–23 Aug 2006	1,000	31	30	23	6	3	4	3	1
Forsa	16–18 Aug 2006	1,003	28	30	24	7	4	4	3	2
Emnid	7–10 Aug 2006	500	29	31	22	7	4	3	4	2
Infratest dimap	31 Jul–2 Aug 2006	1,000	29	33	22	6	4	4	2	4
Emnid	5–12 Jul 2006	1,001	31	33	21	7	4	–	4	2
Infratest dimap	10–11 Jul 2006	1,000	31	32	21	7	4	–	5	1
Emnid	19–30 May 2006	1,009	30	31	23	7	4	4	1	1
Infratest	November 2005	1,000	34	29	24	5	4	–	4	5
Emnid	5–8 Sep 2005	500	26	35	25	5	4	–	5	9
Emnid	22–25 Aug 2005	500	22	32	31	6	5	–	4	1
Emnid	8–11 Aug 2005	500	20	31	34	6	6	–	3	3
Emnid	25 Sep 2004	750	28	31	21	5	7	3	5	3
Infratest dimap	1–6 Jun 2004	1,003	29	44	15	5	5	–	2	15
Emnid	8 May 2004	752	28	39	17	6	7	–	3	11
Emnid	7 Nov 2003	750	26	41	19	5	6	–	3	15
Emnid	21 Jun 2003	750	35	37	14	5	5	–	4	2
Emnid	1 Mar 2003	?	33	40	14	5	4	–	4	7
2002 state election	22 Sep 2002	–	40.6	31.4	16.4	4.7	2.6	0.8	3.5	9.2

Election result

Summary of the 17 September 2006 election results for the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	247,312	30.2	10.4	23	10	32.4
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	235,530	28.8	2.6	22	3	31.0
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	137,253	16.8	0.4	13	0	18.3
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	78,440	9.6	4.9	7	7	9.9
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	59,845	7.3	6.5	6	6	8.5
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	27,642	3.4	0.8	0	±0	0
	Family Party (Familie)	9,463	1.2	1.2	0	±0	0
	Others	22,756	2.8		0	±0	0
Total		818,061	100.0		71	±0
Voter turnout			59.2	11.4

Popular Vote SPD   30.23% CDU   28.77% PDS   16.78% FDP   9.59% NPD   7.32% GRÜNE   3.38% Other   3.94%

Bürgerschaft seats SPD   32.39% CDU   30.99% PDS   18.31% FDP   9.86% NPD   8.45%

Sources

• Election Results from the Landtag of Mecklenburg - Western Pomerania (in German)
• Landtagswahl Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (in German)