2019 Brandenburg state election

Since German reunification, the SPD has been the strongest party in Brandenburg on a state level, and has held the office of Minister-President continuously. The SPD and Left formed a coalition government after the 2009 state election, which was renewed after the 2014 state election. In the 2019 European Parliament election in Germany, AfD was the strongest party in Brandenburg on 19.9%, ahead of the CDU (18.0%) and SPD (17.2%). ==Electoral system==

In principle, the Landtag consists of 88 members. 44 are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies (direct mandates), and the remainder are filled by party-list proportional representation. The seats are distributed according to the largest remainder method (Hare-Niemeyer method). Only parties whose share of second votes exceeds the 5% electoral threshold or which have won a direct mandate (the "basic mandate clause") are allocated seats. According to the state constitution and the state election law, the election date must be a Sunday or a public holiday, at the earliest 57 months and at the latest 60 months after the beginning of the election period. In 2019, the date was set for 1 September 2019. The minimum voting age is 16 years. ==Parties==

The table below lists parties represented in the 6th Landtag of Brandenburg. ==Opinion polls==

By early afternoon, significantly more people had voted than at the same time in the 2014 election. According to the state election director, 31.3% of voters cast their ballots by 2:00 PM. At the time in 2014, the figure was only 22.4%. File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen SPD 2019.svg|SPD vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen AfD 2019.svg|AfD vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen CDU 2019.svg|CDU vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen Grüne 2019.svg|Green vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen Linke 2019.svg|Linke vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen BVB-FW 2019.svg|FW vote File:Brandenburg Zweitstimmen FDP 2019.svg|FDP vote ==Government formation==

The governing SPD and Die Linke both suffered losses, bringing an end to their coalition. Incumbent Minister-President Woidke (SPD) invited all parties except AfD to coalition negotiations as his party remained the largest bloc. The CDU expressed interest in joining a so-called "Kenya coalition" with SPD and Greens, which would have 50 seats, and reiterated their refusal to govern with AfD. Woidke confirmed he called CDU leader Senftleben on election day to begin discussions, but expressed reservations about the party's poor performance under pressure from the right. He also did not rule out the possibility of a red-red-green coalition with Die Linke and Greens, which would have a bare majority of 45 seats. On November 16, both the CDU and SPD voted in favor of a "Kenya coalition." ==Notes==