No. 88 - 'The account of the early state parliament elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia'

Institute for Western Affairs' Bulletin (No. 88/2012):  dr P. Kubiak - 'The account of the early state parliament elections  in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and  North Rhine-Westphalia'

State parliament elections are very carefully observed by the commentators of the German political scene. They also constitute an important trial and a social popularity barometer for the leaders of the German political parties while waiting for the Bundestag or European Parliament elections. Their results bear influence on the shape of the political scene of the federal state in which they are taking place, as well as on the level of the whole Federation - the composition of the Bundesrat. The winning coalitions delegate the federal state’s representatives (mainly members of the local governments and high officials) to the Bundesrat. No important elections will be taking place in Germany in 2012  - neither for the  Bundestag, the European Parliament nor  the  state parliaments. For the majority of political parties it was supposed to be a time of  consolidation before the Bundestag election planned for September 2013. In the mean time, the German public opinion focused on the scandal around President Christian Wulff during the first months of 2012. With these events in the background, three federal states - Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia  - dissolved their parliaments and scheduled early elections. Could the dissolution of  those  three federal state coalitions in such a short time be a first symptom of a parliamentary crisis in Germany? This undoubtedly was a precedent in the history of unified Germany and the first months of 2012 turned out to be very heated on the German political scene.