Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 6.8
(continued)
PDS/
Election
Linke/
State
Year
SPD CDU FDP Greens (Other) Total Seats Coalition
Saxony
1990
32
92
9
17
160
CDU
1994
22
77
21
120
CDU
1999
14
76
30
120
CDU
2004
13
55
7
6
31
124
CDU/FDP
Saxony-
Anhalt
1990
27
48
14
12
106
CDU/FDP
1994
36
37
5
21
99
SPD/Greens
(Minority-
Gov)
1998
47
28
25
116
SPD
2002
25
48
17
25
115
CDU/FDP
2006
24
40
7
26
97
CDU/SPD
* The Seats written under CDU in Bavaria is actually CSU and the Greens in Hamburg is the GAL
(Green Alternative List).
Sources
:
Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland;
http://www2.politik.uni-halle.de/schnapp//
Forschung/Landesregierungen/; Election.de
somewhat underrepresented in the East, especially in relation to the earlier
period (1990-1995). The CDU controlled, either by itself or in coalition with
the FDP, a majority of regional governments in the East. Between 1990 and
1994, Brandemburg was the only exception to this pattern. After 1994,the
scenario changed quite significantly. The progressive ascendant of the PDS as a
major post-GDR party, capable of holding the SPD at bay in the East, altered
the coalition map throughout the region. Thuringia and Berlin see the CDU
sharing its power with the SPD as early as 1994. In the case of Mecklenburg-
Pommerania, an SPD-PDS coalition was in office between 1998 and 2006.
In parallel the regional elections reveal a consolidation (over time) of the
Greens and the Liberals in the West. While relatively distant in policy dimen-
sions such as environmental regulation or the degree of implication of state
institutions in the economy, they target a common constituency. Increasingly,
both draw their support from the well-educated, well-off Western urban strata,
while at the same time they have very little electoral support in the East. They
are the quintessential organizations for the net payers of the Reunification
efforts.
These changes in regional electoral arenas have their correlate at the fed-
eral level.
Figure 6.5
illustrates the share of seats in the German Parliament
(Bundestag) held by parties other than the CDU/CSU-SPD. More specifically, it
also illustrates how the consolidation of the PDS in the East grants it, with the
exception of the 2002 election, an increasing presence at the national level.
21
21
The spike for the PDS in the 2005 and 2009 elections needs clarification. I should highlight
that the post-1995 period encompasses two subperiods: a first period, between 1995 and 2002,
