# 2019 Bremen state election

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.
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.

## Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Bürgerschaft of Bremen.
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2015 result | 2015 result | 2019 seats |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | Votes (%) | Seats | Seats |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Carsten Sieling | 32.8% | 30 / 83 | 31 / 83 |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Carsten Meyer-Heder | 22.4% | 20 / 83 | 20 / 83 |
| | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | Green politics | Maike Schaefer | 15.1% | 14 / 83 | 12 / 83 |
| | Linke | The Left Die Linke | Democratic socialism | Kristina Vogt | 9.5% | 8 / 83 | 8 / 83 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Lencke Wischhusen | 6.6% | 6 / 83 | 6 / 83 |
| | AfD | Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland | German nationalism Right-wing populism | Frank Magnitz | 5.5% | 4 / 83 | 1 / 83 |
| | BiW | Citizens in Rage Bürger in Wut | Right-wing populism | Hinrich Lührssen | 3.2% | 1 / 83 | 3 / 83 |

## Opinion polls

| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | SPD | CDU | Grüne | Linke | FDP | AfD | Others | Lead |
| 2019 state election | 26 May 2019 | – | 24.9 | 26.7 | 17.4 | 11.3 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 1.8 |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | 20–23 May 2019 | 1,664 | 24.5 | 26 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 7.5 | 1.5 |
| INSA | 15–20 May 2019 | 1,000 | 23 | 28 | 18 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | 13–15 May 2019 | 1,021 | 24.5 | 26 | 18 | 12 | 5.5 | 8 | 6 | 1.5 |
| Infratest dimap | 13–15 May 2019 | 1,007 | 24 | 27 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| Infratest dimap | 25 Apr–2 May 2019 | 1,000 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 1 |
| INSA | 22 Mar–1 Apr 2019 | 1,000 | 25 | 25 | 19 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 6 | Tie |
| Infratest dimap | 24–30 Jan 2019 | 1,000 | 24 | 25 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| FGW Telefonfeld | 20–23 Aug 2018 | 1,015 | 26 | 26 | 20 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 3 | Tie |
| pollytix | 22 Jun–2 Jul 2018 | 1,000 | 28 | 24 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 4 |
| INSA | 14–18 May 2018 | 1,003 | 22 | 24 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 4 | 2 |
| Infratest dimap | 13–18 Apr 2018 | 1,002 | 26 | 24 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| 2017 federal election | 24 Sep 2017 | – | 26.8 | 25.1 | 11.1 | 13.1 | 9.3 | 10.0 | 4.3 | 1.7 |
| Infratest dimap | 9–14 Jan 2017 | 1,003 | 29 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 5 |
| Infratest dimap | 26 Apr–2 May 2016 | 1,000 | 29 | 22 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 7 |
| 2015 state election | 10 May 2015 | – | 32.8 | 22.4 | 15.1 | 9.5 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 8.0 | 10.4 |

## Mayor polling

| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | | | None/Unsure | Lead |
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | SielingSPD | Meyer-HederCDU | None/Unsure | Lead |
| 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

| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Assessment | SPD Grüne | SPD Grüne | SPD Grüne Linke | SPD Grüne Linke | SPD Grüne Linke | CDU Grüne | CDU Grüne | SPD CDU | SPD CDU | CDU Grüne FDP | CDU Grüne FDP | CDU Grüne FDP | SPD Grüne FDP | SPD Grüne FDP | SPD Grüne FDP |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | May 2019 | Positive | 41 | 41 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | May 2019 | Negative | 57 | 57 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 68 | 68 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 76 | 76 |

## Election result

Summary of the 26 May 2019 election results for the Bürgerschaft of Bremen :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/- | Seats | Seats | Total seats | +/- | Seats % |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/- | Bremen | Bremerhaven | Total seats | +/- | Seats % |
| | 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 | Total | 1,469,506 | 100.0 | | 69 | 15 | 84 | 1 | |
| Voter turnout | Voter turnout | | 64.1 | 13.9 | | | | | |
2019 Bremen state election voter demographics :
| Demographic subgroup | CDU | SPD | Grüne | Linke | AfD | FDP |
| Total vote | 27 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 6 |
| Gender |||||||
| Men | 26 | 23 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 6 |
| Women | 24 | 25 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| Education |||||||
| lower Education | 25 | 39 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 4 |
| higher Education | 24 | 19 | 23 | 14 | 4 | 6 |
| Election decision (as % of their voters) |||||||
| Disappointment | 38 | 21 | 24 | 28 | 54 | 37 |
| Conviction | 55 | 69 | 71 | 64 | 42 | 57 |
| Others |||||||
| Last-Minute-Decision | 22 | 25 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 7 |
| First-time-Voter | 11 | 15 | 34 | 14 | 4 | 10 |
Popular Vote
CDU
26.66%
SPD
24.93%
B'90/GRÜNE
17.43%
DIE LINKE
11.32%
AfD
6.12%
FDP
5.95%
BiW
2.44%
Other
5.15% :
Bürgerschaft seats
CDU
28.57%
SPD
27.38%
B'90/GRÜNE
19.05%
DIE LINKE
11.90%
AfD
5.95%
FDP
5.95%
BiW
1.19% :