6533b858fe1ef96bd12b6155
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Sports Cars, Sleaze and Gamma Rays: Rhineland-Palatinate Elects its First Red-Green Government
Kai Arzheimersubject
GovernmentSociology and Political ScienceParliamentmedia_common.quotation_subjectVictoryMunicipal levelPoliticsMomentum (finance)Market economyConsolidation (business)State (polity)Political economyPolitical Science and International RelationsEconomicsmedia_commondescription
The 2011 election in Rhineland-Palatinate was a political earthquake: Following a string of political scandals, the SPD lost almost ten percentage points of their support, while the CDU could hardly improve on their disastrous 2006 result. The FDP is no longer represented in the state parliament. The Greens more than tripled their last result, allowing them to enter a coalition with the SPD for the first time. Analyses at the municipal level show that the party improved most in their urban strongholds while still showing a (relatively) weak performance in rural areas. This will make it difficult to sustain the momentum of their victory. Moreover, the SPD is battered and bruised and needs to select a new leader, but veteran minister president Kurt Beck shows no inclination to step down. This does not bode well for a coalition that needs to organise the state's fiscal consolidation and structural transformation.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-09-01 | German Politics |