Elections in Hamburg

The number of elections in Hamburg varies. Hamburg has a state election every five years,[1] the elections for the state parliament. There are also elections to the federal diet (the lower house of the federal parliament) of Germany, the local elections of the diet of the boroughs (Bezirksversammlungen) and every five years to the European Parliament. All elections take place by universal adult suffrage and are regulated by law.

Voting system

The voting system for the state and local elections is a mixed member proportional representation. In 2007 the constitutional court of Hamburg declared a new form of election threshold for the state parliament elections unconstitutional.[2]

Referendum and citizen's initiative

Since 1996 citizen's initiatives or a referendums (Volksbegehren or Volksentscheid) are possible in Hamburg.[3][4]

History

Since the second world war, state elections have been held on the following dates:[5]

#	Date	Election
1.	13 October 1946	1946 Hamburg state election
2.	16 October 1949	1949 Hamburg state election
3.	1 November 1953	1953 Hamburg state election
4.	10 November 1957	1957 Hamburg state election
5.	12 November 1961	1961 Hamburg state election
6.	27 March 1966	1966 Hamburg state election
7.	22 March 1970	1970 Hamburg state election
8.	3 March 1974	1974 Hamburg state election
9.	4 June 1978	1978 Hamburg state election
10.	6 June 1982	June 1982 Hamburg state election
11.	19 December 1982	December 1982 Hamburg state election
12.	9 November 1986	1986 Hamburg state election
13.	17 May 1987	1987 Hamburg state election
14.	2 June 1991	1991 Hamburg state election
15.	19 September 1993	1993 Hamburg state election
16.	21 September 1997	1997 Hamburg state election
17.	23 September 2001	2001 Hamburg state election
18.	29 February 2004	2004 Hamburg state election
19.	24 February 2008	2008 Hamburg state election
20.	20 February 2011	2011 Hamburg state election
21.	15 February 2015	2015 Hamburg state election
21.	23 February 2020	2020 Hamburg state election

Results

For the election of 2009 (2004) to the European Union there were 1,256,701 (2004: 1.227.905) voters, a turnout of 34.7% (34.9), gave 432,633 (421,029) valid and 3,633 (7,834) invalid votes.[6] For the state election 2008 there were 1,236,671 voters, with a turnout of 63.4% for the first vote (63.5% 2nd vote/party vote) gave 3,723,546 votes for the first vote (direct candidate vote) and 777,531 for the 2nd vote (party vote).[7]

Party	EU 2009 Votes	EU 2009 Vote %	State 2008 First Vote	State 2008 First Vote %	State 2008 Party vote (2nd vote)	State 2008 Party vote (2nd vote) %	EU 2004 Votes	EU 2004 Vote %	Difference EU 2009 to 2004 in % pts.
CDU	128,443	29.7	1,451,742	39.0	331,067	42,6	154,690	36.7	-7.1
SPD	109,766	25.4	1,214,263	32.6	265,516	34.1	106,325	25.3	0.1
GRÜNE	88,823	20.5	508,118	13.6	74,472	9.6	103,454	24.6	-4.0
FDP	48,225	11.1	222,598	6.0	36,953	4.8	22,991	5.5	5.7
DIE LINKE	29,181	6.7	274,196	7.4	50,132	6.4	11,872	2.8	3.9
Die Tierschutzpartei	2,905	0.7	–	–	–	–	3,237	0.8	-0.1
REP	1,527	0.4	–	–	–	–	1,589	0.4	-0.0
FAMILIE	1,493	0.3	–	–	–	–	1,534	0.4	-0.0
DIE FRAUEN	836	0.2	–	–	–	–	1,351	0.3	-0.1
Volksabstimmung	720	0.2	–	–	–	–	1,217	0.3	-0.1
PBC	806	0.2	–	–	–	–	1,027	0.2	-0.1
DKP	521	0.1	–	–	–	–	900	0.2	-0.1
ödp	1,054	0,2	2,065	0.1	981	0.1	677	0,2	0,1
AUFBRUCH	271	0.1	–	–	–	–	395	0.1	-0,0
BüSo	123	0.0	–	–	–	–	315	0.1	-0.0
PSG	153	0.0	–	–	–	–	260	0.1	-0.0
CM	268	0.1	–	–	–	–	255	0.1	0.0
50Plus	763	0.2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
AUF	355	0,1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
BP	188	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
DVU	1,538	0.4	–	–	6,354	0.8	–	–	–
DIE GRAUEN	794	0.2	–	–	2,399	0.3	–	–	–
DIE VIOLETTEN	672	0.2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
EDE	235	0.1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
FBI	261	0.1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
VOLKSENTSCHEIDE	686	0.2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
FW FREIE WÄHLER	2,564	0.6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Newropeans	443	0.1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
PIRATEN	5,097	1.2	2,207	0.1	1,773	0.2	–	–	–
RRP	1,545	0.4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
RENTNER	2,377	0.5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
ZENTRUM	–	–	2,574	0.1	646	0.1	–	–	–
Die PARTEI	–	–	6,698	0.2	1,958	0.3	–	–	–
Kusch	–	–	29,746	0.8	3,519	0.5	–	–	–
Others	–	–	7,154	0.2	–	–	8,940	2.1	–

References

1. Constitution of Hamburg Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, Artikel 10 (in German), retrieved 26 April 2019
2. Die Geschichte des Hamburger Wahlrechts (in German), Mehr Demokratie e.V., retrieved 24 July 2009
3. Constitution of Hamburg Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (in German) (11th ed.), 6 June 1952, archived from the original on 10 June 2007, retrieved 22 July 2009
4. Act of Referendum Hamburgisches Gesetz über Volksinitiative, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid (Volksabstimmungsgesetz - VAbstG) (in German), 20 June 1996, archived from the original on 27 September 2007, retrieved 2009-07-24
5. Wahltermine in Hamburg seit 1946 (in German), The Federal Returning Officer (Bundeswahlleiter), 2008, archived from the original on 5 March 2009, retrieved 24 March 2009
6. Endgültiges Ergebnis der Europawahl 2009 (in German), The Federal Returning Officer (Bundeswahlleiter), 2009, archived from the original on 12 June 2009, retrieved 24 July 2009
7. Endgültiges Ergebnis der Bürgerschaftswahl 2008 (PDF) (in German), The Federal Returning Officer (Bundeswahlleiter), 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2011, retrieved 2009-07-24

External links

• Gesetz über die Wahl zur hamburgischen Bürgerschaft (BüWG) in der Fassung vom 22. Juli 1986 (in German)