| Election Name: | 2008 Lower Saxony state election |
| Country: | Lower Saxony |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2003 Lower Saxony state election |
| Previous Year: | 2003 |
| Next Election: | 2013 Lower Saxony state election |
| Next Year: | 2013 |
| Seats For Election: | All 152 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony |
| Majority Seats: | 77 |
| Election Date: | 27 January 2008 |
| Turnout: | 3,422,552 (57.0%) 10.0% |
| Leader1: | Christian Wulff |
| Party1: | Christian Democratic Union (Germany) |
| Last Election1: | 91 seats, 48.3% |
| Seats1: | 68 |
| Seat Change1: | 23 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,455,687 |
| Percentage1: | 42.5% |
| Swing1: | 5.8% |
| Leader2: | Wolfgang Jüttner |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 63 seats, 33.4% |
| Seats2: | 48 |
| Seat Change2: | 15 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,035,894 |
| Percentage2: | 30.3% |
| Swing2: | 3.1% |
| Leader3: | Philipp Rösler |
| Party3: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election3: | 15 seats, 8.1% |
| Seats3: | 13 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Popular Vote3: | 279,557 |
| Percentage3: | 8.2% |
| Swing3: | 0.1% |
| Leader4: | Stefan Wenzel |
| Party4: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election4: | 14 seats, 7.6% |
| Seats4: | 12 |
| Seat Change4: | 2 |
| Popular Vote4: | 273,934 |
| Percentage4: | 8.0% |
| Swing4: | 0.4% |
| Leader5: | Kreszentia Flauger |
| Party5: | The Left (Germany) |
| Last Election5: | 0 seats, 0.5% |
| Seats5: | 11 |
| Seat Change5: | 11 |
| Popular Vote5: | 243,106 |
| Percentage5: | 7.1% |
| Swing5: | 6.6% |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Minister-President | |
| Before Election: | Christian Wulff |
| Before Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| After Election: | Christian Wulff |
| After Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Elected Members: | elected members |
| Outgoing Members: | outgoing members |
The 2008 Lower Saxony state election was held on 27 January 2008 to elect the members of the 16th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Christian Wulff was re-elected with a reduced majority.[1]
Lower Saxony was seen as a stronghold of the Christian Democratic Union[2] and their leader Christian Wulff was seen as likely to easily defeat the Social Democrats.[3] The election in Lower Saxony took place on the same day as the 2008 Hessian state election; Wulff was seen as a more moderate leader than Roland Koch in Hesse and consequently more likely to perform better in the election.[4] The CDU government had held spending down, introduced tuition fees for university students, while supporting the minimum wage.[5] The Social Democrats (SPD) led their campaign with a call for a national minimum wage for all workers.[6] The SPD leader in Lower Saxony, Wolfgang Jüttner, was little known to voters and unusually during the campaign made an attack on Wolff for his personal life.[7]
The table below lists parties represented in the 15th Landtag of Lower Saxony.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2003 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Christian Wulff | 48.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Wolfgang Jüttner | 33.6% | |||
| bgcolor= | FDP | Free Democratic Party | Classical liberalism | Philipp Rösler | 8.1% | |||
| bgcolor= | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens | Green politics | Stefan Wenzel | 7.6% | |||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | CDU | SPD | FDP | Grüne | Linke | Others | Lead | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 state election | data-sort-value="2008-01-27" | 27 Jan 2008 | – | 42.5 | 30.3 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 7.1 | 3.9 | 12.2 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2008-01-18" | 14–17 Jan 2008 | 1,001 | 46 | 33 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 13 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2008-01-17" | 14–16 Jan 2008 | 1,000 | 44 | 34 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 10 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2008-01-07" | 2–4 Jan 2008 | 1,000 | 45 | 33 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 12 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2008-01-05" | 10 Dec 2007 – 2 Jan 2008 | 800 | 45 | 32 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 13 | |
| AMR Düsseldorf | data-sort-value="2007-12-29" | 29 Dec 2007 | 1,000 | 44 | 34 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 10 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2007-12-07" | 4–6 Dec 2007 | 1,056 | 44 | 34 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 10 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2007-11-07" | 2–5 Nov 2007 | 1,000 | 44 | 33 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 11 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2007-10-23" | 5–10 Oct 2007 | 1,001 | 45 | 33 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 12 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2007-10-18" | 2–6 Oct 2007 | 1,000 | 45 | 31 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 14 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2007-09-06" | 3–5 Sep 2007 | 1,000 | 44 | 34 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 10 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2007-08-16" | 1–14 Aug 2007 | 1,160 | 47 | 29 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 18 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2007-05-31" | 14–29 May 2007 | 1,047 | 46 | 29 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 17 | |
| Infratest | data-sort-value="2007-05-21" | 3–6 May 2007 | 1,000 | 41 | 36 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2007-02-15" | 29 Jan–13 Feb 2007 | 1,193 | 46 | 29 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2007-01-26" | 19–24 Jan 2007 | 1,000 | 43 | 34 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-11-16" | 2–14 Nov 2006 | 1,080 | 45 | 29 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-10-19" | 25 Sep–17 Oct 2006 | 1,054 | 44 | 30 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 14 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2006-08-30" | 23–27 Aug 2006 | 1,000 | 40 | 36 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-08-03" | 17 Jul–1 Aug 2006 | 1,086 | 46 | 31 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 15 | |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2006-06-08" | 17 May–6 Jun 2006 | 1,039 | 42 | 36 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2006-02-24" | 17–22 Feb 2006 | 1,000 | 42 | 37 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 5 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2005-03-01" | 7–12 Feb 2005 | 1,000 | 43 | 37 | 7 | 10 | – | 3 | 6 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2005-02-28" | 28 Feb 2005 | ? | 44 | 34 | 7 | 10 | – | 5 | 10 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2004-02-03" | 26–31 Jan 2004 | 1,000 | 51 | 29 | 8 | 8 | – | 4 | 22 | |
| GMS | data-sort-value="2004-01-25" | 28 Nov–1 Dec 2003 | 1,000 | 48.5 | 30.5 | 8.5 | 9.0 | – | 3.5 | 17.0 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2003-06-10" | 27–31 May 2003 | 1,000 | 48 | 31 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 17 | |
| 2003 state election | data-sort-value="2008-02-02" | 2 Feb 2003 | – | 48.3 | 33.4 | 8.1 | 7.6 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 14.9 |
See main article: List of members of the Lower Saxon Landtag 2008–2013. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Votes! %! +/-! Seats ! +/-! Seats %|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU)| align=right| 1,455,687| align=right| 42.5| align=right| 5.8| align=right| 68| align=right| 23| align=right| 44.7|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD)| align=right| 1,035,894| align=right| 30.3| align=right| 3.1| align=right| 48| align=right| 15| align=right| 31.6|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP)| align=right| 279,557| align=right| 8.2| align=right| 0.1| align=right| 13| align=right| 2| align=right| 8.6|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)| align=right| 273,934| align=right| 8.0| align=right| 0.4| align=right| 12| align=right| 2| align=right| 7.9|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | The Left (Linke)| align=right| 243,106| align=right| 7.1| align=right| 6.6| align=right| 11| align=right| 11| align=right| 7.2|-! colspan=8||-| bgcolor=| | align=left | National Democratic Party (NPD)| align=right| 52,817| align=right| 1.5| align=right| 1.5| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=|| align=left | Others| align=right| 81,557| align=right| 2.4| align=right| | align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-! align=right colspan=2| Total! align=right| 3,422,552! align=right| 100.0! align=right| ! align=right| 152! align=right| 31! align=right| |-! align=right colspan=2| Voter turnout! align=right| ! align=right| 57.0! align=right| 10.0! align=right| ! align=right| ! align=right| |}
The results saw the Christian Democratic Union easily defeat the Social Democrats, despite suffering a drop in votes and seats.[8] [9] As a result, their leader Christian Wulff was seen as having strengthened his chances of succeeding national CDU leader Angela Merkel.[10] The 30.3% of the vote that the Social Democrats won was the worst performance by the party in Lower Saxony since the Second World War,[5] which was described as a 'disaster' for the party.[11] Turnout in the election was 57%.[10]
The Left entered the Landtag for the first time with 7.1% of the vote, comfortably exceeding the 5% electoral threshold.[12] Along with the election in Hesse held on the same day in which The Left also won seats, this was the first time they had achieved representation in any large state in western Germany.[13]