Date 21 April 2002 | ||
 | ||
The Saxony-Anhalt state election, 2002, was conducted on April 21, 2002, to elect members to the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt.
Contents
Issues and Campaign
The state was at the time of the election the "poorest" state of Germany and had the highest rate of unemployment. The campaign was influenced by the already started campaigns for the Bundestag elections in September. The Deutsche Volksunion, who had had a great success in 1998, did not run at all, after suffering inner trouble which had ended in the secession of the so-called Freedom and Democracy People's Party (FDVP).
Post-election
The right-wing-populist Law and Order Offensive Party, after its success in Hamburg, did not manage to gain seats in another Landtag. The PDS-backed SPD government no longer had enough seats to remain in power, and Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU) was able to form a new government in coalition with the FDP, which had an extraordinary victory (13% from less than 5% in 1998).
Following the unexpected victory for the FDP, the party leader Guido Westerwelle declared his party a "party for the whole people". The FDP nominated him "candidate for chancellor". It was the first time that the party did so. ("Candidates for chancellor" are normally nominated by CDU/CSU and SPD, and the campaign of the FDP was widely not taken seriously.)
Five months before the Bundestag election, the result was a major defeat for the red-green government of Gerhard Schröder and weakened its standing in the Bundesrat.