# 2011 Bremen state election

The 2011 Bremen state election was held on 22 May 2011 to elect the members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen, as well as the city councils of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The incumbent government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens was re-elected with an increased majority. The Greens became the second-largest party in a state legislature for the second time after the 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election on 27 March.
Sixteen and seventeen year olds were able to vote for the first time in this election. A reform to the electoral system came into effect in this election, based on an open list system, with each voter having five votes to distribute freely between parties and candidates.

## Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Bürgerschaft of Bremen.
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2007 result | 2007 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Jens Böhrnsen | 36.7% | 32 / 83 |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Rita Mohr-Lüllmann | 25.6% | 23 / 83 |
| | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | Green politics | Karoline Linnert | 16.5% | 14 / 83 |
| | Linke | The Left Die Linke | Democratic socialism | Kristina Vogt | 8.4% | 7 / 83 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Oliver Möllenstädt | 6.0% | 5 / 83 |
| | NPD | National Democratic Party of Germany Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Neo-Nazism | | 2.7% | 1 / 83 |
| | BiW | Citizens in Rage Bürger in Wut | Right-wing populism | Jan Timke | 0.8% | 1 / 83 |

## Opinion polling

| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | SPD | CDU | Grüne | Linke | FDP | BiW | Others | Lead |
| 2011 state election | 22 May 2011 | – | 38.6 | 20.4 | 22.5 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 6.9 | 16.1 |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | 10–12 May 2011 | 1,037 | 37 | 19 | 24 | 6 | 4 | – | 7 | 13 |
| Infratest dimap | 10–12 May 2011 | 1,001 | 36 | 20 | 24 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Emnid | 20–28 Apr 2011 | 1,004 | 37 | 22 | 24 | 7 | 4 | – | 6 | 13 |
| Forsa | Jan–Feb 2011 | 1,308 | 38 | 23 | 22 | 7 | 4 | – | 6 | 15 |
| Konkret Marktforschung | 17–19 Dec 2010 | 500 | 33.4 | 22.8 | 19.4 | 8.5 | 3.3 | 5.5 | 7.1 | 10.6 |
| Emnid | 12–17 Feb 2010 | 1,000 | 35 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 5 | – | 7 | 10 |
| 2007 state election | 13 May 2007 | – | 36.7 | 25.6 | 16.5 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 0.8 | 5.9 | 11.1 |

## Election result

Summary of the 22 May 2011 election results for the Bürgerschaft of Bremen :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Bremen | Bremerhaven | Total Seats | +/- |
| | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 505,348 | 38.60 | +1.9 | 30 | 6 | 36 | +4 |
| | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 293,993 | 22.46 | +6.0 | 17 | 4 | 21 | +7 |
| | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 266,483 | 20.35 | -5.2 | 16 | 4 | 20 | -3 |
| | The Left (Linke) | 73,769 | 5.63 | -2.8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | -2 |
| | Citizens in Rage (BiW) | 48,530 | 3.71 | +2.9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ±0 |
| | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 31,176 | 2.38 | -3.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 |
| | Pirate Party (Piraten) | 24,935 | 1.90 | +1.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| | National Democratic Party (NDP) | 20,470 | 1.56 | -1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Others | 44,541 | 3.40 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| Total | Total | 1,309,245 | 100.00 | – | 68 | 15 | 83 | 0 |
Popular Vote
SPD
38.60%
B'90/GRÜNE
22.45%
CDU
20.35%
DIE LINKE
5.63%
BiW
3.71%
FDP
2.38%
Other
6.88% :
Bürgerschaft seats
SPD
43.37%
B'90/GRÜNE
25.30%
CDU
24.10%
DIE LINKE
6.02%
BiW
1.20% :