1996 Schleswig-Holstein state election

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24 March 1996

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All 75 seats in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
38 seats needed for a majority

Turnout

1,502,088 (71.8%)

0.1%

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Heide Simonis	Ottfried Hennig
Party	SPD	CDU	Greens
Last election	45 seats, 46.2%	32 seats, 33.8%	0 seats, 5.0%
Seats won	33	30	6
Seat change	12	2	6
Popular vote	597,751	559,107	121,939
Percentage	39.8%	37.2%	8.1%
Swing	6.4%	3.4%	3.1%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	FDP	DVU	SSW
Last election	5 seats, 5.6%	6 seats, 6.3%	1 seat, 1.9%
Seats won	4	0	2
Seat change	1	6	1
Popular vote	86,227	64,335	38,285
Percentage	5.7%	4.3%	2.5%
Swing	0.1%	2.0%	0.6%

Results for the single-member constituencies

Minister-President before election

Heide Simonis
SPD

Elected Minister-President

Heide Simonis
SPD

The 1996 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 24 March 1996 to elect the members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) government led by Minister-President Heide Simonis lost its majority. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with The Greens, and Simonis continued in office.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1992 result
Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Heide Simonis	46.2%	45 / 89
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Ottfried Hennig	33.8%	32 / 89
	DVU	German People's Union Deutsche Volksunion	German nationalism		6.3%	6 / 89
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism		5.6%	5 / 89
	SSW	South Schleswig Voters' Association Südschleswigscher Wählerverband	Danish and Frisian minority interests		1.9%	1 / 89

Election result

Summary of the 24 March 1996 election results for the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %

	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	597,751	39.8	6.4	33	12	44.0
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	559,107	37.2	3.4	30	2	40.0
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	121,939	8.1	3.1	6	6	8.0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	86,227	5.7	0.1	4	1	5.3
	South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW)	38,285	2.5	0.6	2	1	2.7

	German People's Union (DVU)	64,335	4.3	2.0	0	6	0
	Voters' Community of Schleswig-Holstein (WSH)	28,206	1.9	1.9	0	±0	0
	Others	6,238	0.4		0	±0	0
Total		1,502,088	100.0		75	14
Voter turnout			71.8	0.1