The 2006 Landtag Election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The election of the fifth state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was, for the first time since 1990, a ‘true’ state election because it did not take place on the same day as the federal election. The opportunity for thrusting this state's own political topics into the limelight was, however, not used by any of the parties. Both the SPD which had been part of a red-red coalition with the PDS since 1998 and the CDU left the coalition question open during the campaign. Partially because of this, there was no polarization among voters. The voter turnout was quit low. Despite great losses, the SPD emerged as the strongest party. The Linkspartei.PDS made only minimal advances and the CDU dropped to a record low of less than 30 per cent of the vote. In addition to the FDP which was able to re-enter parliament for the first time since 1990, the right-extremist NPD managed to overcome the five percent hurdle. Thus, the previous three party system ended. Due to the narrow majority, Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff (SPD) decided against a continuation of the red-red coalition and instead formed a grand coalition with the CDU.