2004 Hamburg state election
The 2004 Hamburg state election was held on 29 February 2004 to elect the members of the 18th Hamburg Parliament. The election was triggered by the collapse of the coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Party for a Rule of Law Offensive (PRO), and Free Democratic Party (FDP). The election saw a collapse in support for PRO which had split after its leader Ronald Schill left in 2003. The original party and Schill's new party captured 3.5% of the vote between them, down from 19.4% in 2001. A huge amount of support flowed  to the CDU, which won 63 of the 121 seats in Parliament, forming a majority government. First Mayor Ole von Beust continued in office. Parties. The table below lists parties represented in the 17th Hamburg Parliament. Background. In August 2003, Mayor von Beust made moves to dismiss an Interior official suspected of corruption. In response, Senator of the Interior Ronald Schill threatened to spread rumours of an affair between von Beust and the Senator of Justice. Schill was subsequently dismissed from the government. In December of the same year, Schill left his own party along with five of its members  of Parliament, depriving the government of its majority. He subsequently joined Pro DM. Election result. ! | Party ! Votes ! +/- ! Seats ! Seats % !| !| Total !| 824,317 !| 100.0 !| !| 121 !| ±0 !| !| Voter turnout !| !| 68.7 !| 2.4 !| !| !|