Abstract
The 2009 German federal election marked the end of the Grand Coalition comprising Christian and Social Democrats, in power since 2005. On election night, September 27, it was clear that the victory margin gained by the Christian Democrats, which later formed a coalition government with the Liberals, was larger than expected. Actually, the overall outcome showed two main features. Instead of a close race, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) experienced the worst election result since World War II. In addition, its new competitor, the new Left Party (LP), increased its strength compared to 2005. Turnout, in constant decline since 1998, decreased by another seven percentage points to 70.8 percent. This is the lowest ever recorded turnout in a German federal election.
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This means, for example, that the vote choice model for the CDU/CSU includes also the perceived capacity to solve the most important problems for the Christian Democrats. The SPD vote choice model comprises problem-solving capacity, and so on.
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© 2010 Silvia Bolgherini and Florian Grotz
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Weßels, B. (2010). An Electorate on the Move. In: Bolgherini, S., Grotz, F. (eds) Germany after the Grand Coalition. Europe in Transition: The NYU European Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115415_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115415_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38441-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-11541-5
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