Saxony state election, 2004

The Saxony state election, 2004, was conducted on September 19, 2004, to elect members to the Landtag (state legislature) of the Free State of Saxony.

Issues and Campaign

Results

Turnout was at 59.6%, a decline of 1.5% from the previous elections.

Outcome

* The most striking result of the election, gaining international attention, was the entrance into the Landtag of the nationalist (and quasi-national-socialist) NPD, which won 12 seats. Its strength was mostly in the rural areas. Commentators blamed alienation stemming from economic depression.

* The continuing strength in Saxony of the east-German communist SED's-successor party, the PDS, was also notable.

* The CDU remained the strongest party with 55 of 124 seats, but lost its majority. This meant that it had to find coalition partners. The most logical was the free-market FDP. The FDP had won only 7 seats, though, which was just barely insufficient to form a CDU-FDP government. Coalition with the reformedCommunist PDS [later to merge into the Linke party] or with the left-wing Greens was ideologically impossible. The CDU could have (mathematically) formed a government with the far-right NPD (which gained 12 seats), but this too was out of the question. The result was a much-bemoaned "grand coalition" of the two centrist-parties (CDU and SPD). This grand-coalition outcome was later mirrored nationally in the 2005 Bundestag elections.

* Georg Milbradt remained in office as Prime Minister. Notably however, the far-right NPD received two more votes on the ballot for Prime Minister than it had members in the Landtag. It is presumed that two CDU Landtag members backed the NPD, as a protest against the "grand coalition".

ources

* [http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/e/index_e.htm The Federal Returning Officer]