1999 Brandenburg state election

The 1999 Brandenburg state election was held on 5 September 1999 to elect the members of the 3rd Landtag of Brandenburg. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) majority government led by Minister-President Manfred Stolpe lost its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Stolpe continued as Minister-President.

1999 Brandenburg state election

5 September 1999
All 89 seats in the Landtag of Brandenburg 45 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,102,360 (54.3%) 2.0%
First party Second party   Leader Manfred Stolpe Jörg Schönbohm Party SPD CDU Leader's seat Cottbus II State-wide party list Last election 52 seats, 54.1% 18 seats, 18.7% Seats won 37 25 Seat change 15 7 Popular vote 433,521 292,634 Percentage 39.3% 26.5% Swing 14.8% 7.8%   Third party Fourth party   PDS DVU Leader Wolfgang Thiel Axel Hesselbarth Party PDS DVU Leader's seat State-wide party list Did not run Last election 18 seats, 18.7% Did not contest Seats won 22 5 Seat change 4 5 Popular vote 257,309 58,247 Percentage 23.3% 5.3% Swing 4.6% 5.3%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Government before election Stolpe II SPD majority Government after election Stolpe III SPD–CDU

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 2nd Landtag of Brandenburg.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1994 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Manfred Stolpe	54.1%	52 / 88
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Jörg Schönbohm	18.7%	18 / 88
	PDS	Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus	Democratic socialism		18.7%	18 / 88

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	PDS	Grüne	FDP	DVU	Others	Lead
1999 state election	5 Sep 1999	–	39.3	26.5	23.3	1.9	1.9	5.3	1.7	12.7
Infratest dimap	18–24 Aug 1999	1,000	44	23	23	2	1	5	2	21
dimap	2–11 Aug 1999	1,014	42	27	20	3	3	3	2	15
Forsa	August 1999	1,002	44	23	23	2	2	4	2	19
Infratest dimap	28 Jun–4 Jul 1999	1,000	42	29	20	3	1	–	5	13
dimap	18–22 Jun 1999	1,021	40	27	21	3	2	–	7	13
Infratest dimap	17–22 May 1999	1,000	50	25	18	3	1	–	3	25
Infratest dimap	15–21 Mar 1999	1,000	51	23	18	3	2	–	3	28
Infratest dimap	23–28 Nov 1998	1,000	55	18	18	4	3	–	4	37
Infratest dimap	21–29 Mar 1998	1,000	58	15	17	4	2	–	4	43
1994 state election	5 Sep 1994	–	54.1	18.7	18.7	2.9	2.2	–	3.1	35.4

Election result

Summary of the 5 September 1999 election results for the Landtag of Brandenburg

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	433,521	39.33	14.81	37	15
	Christian Democratic Union	292,634	26.55	7.83	25	7
	Party of Democratic Socialism	257,309	23.34	4.62	22	4
	German People's Union (DVU)	58,247	5.28	5.28	5	5
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	21,410	1.94	0.95	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	20,472	1.86	0.34	0
	Others	18,767	1.70		0
Total		1,102,360	100.00	–	89	–
Registered voters/turnout			54.3	2.0

Popular Vote SPD   39.33% CDU   26.55% PDS   23.34% DVU   5.28% B'90/GRÜNE   1.94% FDP   1.86% Other   1.70%

Landtag seats SPD   41.57% CDU   28.09% PDS   24.72% DVU   5.62%

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer