2004 Thuringian state election

The 2004 Thuringian state election was held on 13 June 2004 to elect the members of the 4th Landtag of Thuringia. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Dieter Althaus retained its majority and continued in office.

2004 Thuringia state election

13 June 2004
All 88 seats of the Landtag of Thuringia 45 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,958,401 0.4%
Turnout	1,010,578 (53.8%) 6.1%
Leader Dieter Althaus Bodo Ramelow Christoph Matschie Party CDU PDS SPD Last election 49 seats, 51.0% 21 seats, 21.3% 18 seats, 18.5% Seats won 45 28 15 Seat change 4 7 3 Popular vote 434,088 263,717 146,297 Percentage 43.0% 26.1% 14.5% Swing 8.0% 4.8% 4.0%
Minister-President before election Dieter Althaus CDU Elected Minister-President Dieter Althaus CDU

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 3rd Landtag of Thuringia.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1999 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Dieter Althaus	51.0%	49 / 88
	PDS	Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus	Democratic socialism	Bodo Ramelow	21.3%	21 / 88
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Christoph Matschie	18.5%	18 / 88

Opinion polling

Date	Polling Firm	CDU	PDS	SPD	Grüne	FDP	Others	Lead
13 Jun 2004	2004 state election	43.0	26.1	14.5	4.5	3.6	8.3	16.9
3 Jun	IfM	49.0	21.0	20.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	28.0
1-3 Jun	FGW	44.0	21.0	22.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	22.0
29 May-3 Jun	Infratest dimap	45.0	22.0	20.0	4.5	4.0	4.5	23.0
25-29 May	aproxima	42.0	21.0	24.0	7.0	3.0	3.0	18.0
25-29 May	Infratest dimap	45.0	21.0	21.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	24.0
26-28 May	Forsa	43.0	23.0	20.0	6.0	3.0	5.0	20.0
30 Apr	aproxima	45.0	20.0	23.0	7.0	3.0	2.0	22.0
18-23 Mar	Infratest dimap	48.0	20.0	21.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	27.0
17-23 Mar	aproxima	45.0	21.0	24.0	7.0	3.0	0.0	21.0
9 Mar	aproxima	42.0	22.0	23.0	7.0	6.0	0.0	19.0
28 Feb	IfM	50.0	18.0	19.0	7.0	4.0	2.0	31.0
2004
6 Dec	apropro!	43.0	22.0	24.0	6.0	5.0	0.0	19.0
8 Nov	apropro!	45.0	19.0	23.0	8.0	4.0	1.0	22.0
16 Oct	IfM	55.0	15.0	22.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	33.0
18 Jul	IfM	45.0	15.0	28.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	17.0
5 Jul	apropro!	38.0	18.0	31.0	8.0	4.0	1.0	7.0
20 Jun	Projekt Contor	45.0	17.0	25.0	7.0	5.0	1.0	20.0
8 Apr	IfM	41.0	16.0	31.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	10.0
8 Mar	apropro!	41.0	19.0	26.0	7.0	6.0	1.0	15.0
24 Jan	IfM	48.0	15.0	26.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	22.0
2003
22 Oct	IfM	39.0	11.5	41.0	4.5	2.0	2.0	2.0
22 Sep 2002	2002 federal election	29.4	17.0	39.9	4.3	5.9	3.6	10.5
9 Jul	IfM	43.0	19.0	29.0	2.0	6.0	1.0	14.0
22 Apr	apropro!	42.0	20.0	27.0	3.0	6.0	2.0	15.0
20 Apr	IfM	42.0	20.0	27.0	3.0	6.0	2.0	15.0
2002
21 Dec	IfM	41.0	21.0	30.0	2.0	4.0	2.0	11.0
3 Nov	apropro!	34.0	27.0	30.0	2.0	6.0	1.0	4.0
27 Oct	IfM	39.0	21.0	32.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	7.0
10 Jul	IfM	46.0	23.0	23.0	2.0	1.0	5.0	23.0
2001
2000
12 Sep 1999	1999 state election	51.0	21.3	18.5	1.9	1.1	6.1	29.7

Election result

Summary of the 13 June 2004 election results for the Landtag of Thuringia

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	434,088	43.0	8.0	45	4	51.1
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	263,717	26.1	4.8	28	7	31.8
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	146,297	14.5	4.0	15	3	17.0
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	45,649	4.5	2.6	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	36,483	3.6	2.5	0	±0	0
	Free Voters (FW)	26,302	2.6	2.6	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	19,797	2.0	1.2	0	±0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	15,695	1.6	1.4	0	±0	0
	Others	22,550	2.2		0	±0	0
Total		1,010,578	100.0		88	±0
Voter turnout			53.8	6.1

Popular Vote CDU   42.95% PDS   26.10% SPD   14.48% B'90/GRÜNE   4.52% FDP   3.61% FW   2.60% REP   1.96% NPD   1.55% Other   2.23%

Landtag seats CDU   51.14% PDS   31.82% SPD   17.05%

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer