2019 Bremen state election

← 2015 26 May 2019 2023 →
All 84 seats of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen 43 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,469,506 (64.1%) 13.9%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Carsten Meyer-Heder Carsten Sieling Maike Schaefer Party CDU SPD Greens Last election 20 seats, 22.4% 30 seats, 32.8% 14 seats, 15.1% Seats won 24 23 16 Seat change 4 7 2 Popular vote 391,709 366,375 256,181 Percentage 26.7% 24.9% 17.4% Swing 4.3% 7.9% 2.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kristina Vogt Frank Magnitz Lencke Wischhusen Party Left AfD FDP Last election 8 seats, 9.5% 4 seats, 5.5% 6 seats, 6.6% Seats won 10 5 5 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 166,378 89,939 87,420 Percentage 11.3% 6.1% 5.9% Swing 1.8% 0.6% 0.7%   Seventh party   Leader Hinrich Lührssen Party Citizens in Rage Last election 1 seat, 3.2% Seats won 1 Seat change 0 Popular vote 35,808 Percentage 2.4% Swing 0.8%
Government before election Sieling senate SPD–Green Government after election Bovenschulte senate SPD–Green–Left

The 2019 Bremen state election was held on 26 May 2019 to elect the members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen, as well as the city councils of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The election took place on the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election.^[1][2][3]

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party in the Bürgerschaft, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) fell to second place. The Greens and The Left also recorded small upswings.

Despite winning a narrow plurality, the CDU was opposed by a left-wing majority in the Bürgerschaft. Incumbent Mayor Carsten Sieling resigned after the election, and was succeeded by fellow SPD member Andreas Bovenschulte, who formed a three-party coalition government between the SPD, Greens, and Left. This was the first time that The Left had been involved in a government in western Germany.^[4][5]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Bürgerschaft of Bremen.

Opinion polls

Mayor polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date			None/Unsure	Lead
		Sieling SPD	Meyer-Heder CDU
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	26 May 2019	45	34	-	11
Infratest dimap	26 May 2019	42	36	-	6
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	23 May 2019	43	31	26	12
Infratest dimap	16 May 2019	42	28	17	14
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	16 May 2019	42	29	29	13
Infratest dimap Archived 2019-05-09 at the Wayback Machine	7 May 2019	39	31	18	8

Preferred coalition

Election result

Summary of the 26 May 2019 election results for the Bürgerschaft of Bremen

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats		Total seats	+/-	Seats %
					Bremen	Bremerhaven
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	391,709	26.7	4.3	20	4	24	4	28.6
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	366,375	24.9	7.9	19	4	23	7	27.4
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	256,181	17.4	2.3	13	3	16	2	19.0
	The Left (Linke)	166,378	11.3	1.8	9	1	10	2	11.9
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	89,939	6.1	0.6	4	1	5	1	6.0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	87,420	5.9	0.7	4	1	5	1	6.0
	Citizens in Rage (BiW)	35,808	2.4	0.8	0	1	1	0	1.2
	Die PARTEI (PARTEI)	24,433	1.7	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	Free Voters (FW)	14,205	1.0	1.0	0	0	0	±0	0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	14,143	1.0	0.5	0	0	0	±0	0
	Party of Humanists (Humanists)	6,655	0.5	0.5	0	0	0	±0	0
	Basic Income Alliance (BGE)	5,970	0.4	0.4	0	0	0	±0	0
	V-Partei³ (V³)	4,277	0.3	0.3	0	0	0	±0	0
	Welcome to Reality (WIR)	2,821	0.2	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	Human World (MW)	2,565	0.2	0.2	0	0	0	±0	0
	The Right (Right)	627	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	±0	0
Total		1,469,506	100.0		69	15	84	1
Voter turnout			64.1	13.9