2029 Brandenburg state election
2029
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All 88 seats of the Landtag of Brandenburg 45 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The next election to the state parliament Landtag of Brandenburg is scheduled for 2029.
Background
Dietmar Woidke was elected as Minister-President for a fourth consecutive time on December 11, 2024. At formation, his coalition was composed of his own party and BSW (a red-purple coalition), which together had a narrow majority of two seats.[1][2]
Red-purple coalition dissolution
The shaky coalition entered a crisis on 11 November 2025, when BSW MdLs Jouleen Gruhn (its Landtag vice-president), Melanie Matzes, André von Ossowski, and Reinhard Simon left the BSW in protest of most of their bloc voting against the government on amendments to the State Treaty on Media, which regulates the country's public broadcasters. They remained as part of its parliamentary group and continued supporting the government. Matzies and Simon subsequently returned to the party.[3][4]
BSW leader and deputy Minister-President Robert Crumbach voted for the proposed amendments, which passed with votes from the CDU. He then announced his intent to leave the party on 5 January 2026, calling the BSW unfit for the responsibility of governing. He requested to join the SPD parliamentary group, but stopped short of rejoining the party as a member. The BSW repeatedly rejected the SPD's demand for a public pledge of loyalty to the coalition agreement. The party additionally called for Crumbach's dismissal as finance minister and resignation from the Landtag.[4][5]
On 6 January 2026, Minister-President Woidke announced in a press conference he was ending the coalition with BSW and seeking negotiations with the CDU, who expressed willingness to cooperate. On the same day, Crumbach and Gruhn were accepted into the SPD parliamentary group as independents – which would give the proposed coalition the same two-seat majority – while von Ossowski left the BSW parliamentary group to sit as an independent.[6] The two remaining BSW ministers – health minister Britta Müller and infrastructure minister Detlef Tabber – remained in office and also left the party on 8 January.[7]
Woidke and SPD general secretary Kurt Fischer ruled out the prospect of new elections.[6] The AfD tabled a motion to dissolve the Landtag in a special session on 9 January, which requires a two-thirds majority of 59 votes in order to pass; it received only 36 votes, with the AfD bloc and six BSW MdLs voting in favor. An effort to remove Gruhn as vice-president of the Landtag was also voted down. After the session, Matzes and Simon jointly released a statement that they were once again leaving the BSW to sit as independents.[8]
Opinion polls
Graphical summary
Party polling
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
SPD | AfD | BSW | CDU | Grüne | Linke | BVB/FW | FDP | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INSA | 9–14 Jan 2026 | 1,000 | 25 | 34 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 8 | – | – | 7 | 9 |
| Infratest dimap | 3–8 Dec 2025 | 1,184 | 22 | 35 | 7 | 14 | 5 | 9 | – | – | 8 | 13 |
| INSA | 9–15 Sep 2025 | 1,000 | 24 | 34 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| Infratest dimap | 19–23 Jun 2025 | 1,185 | 23 | 32 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 9 | – | – | 8 | 9 |
| 2025 federal election | 23 Feb 2025 | – | 14.8 | 32.5 | 10.7 | 18.1 | 6.6 | 10.7 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 14.4 | |
| INSA | 20–27 Jan 2025 | 1,000 | 25 | 29 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Infratest dimap | 4–7 Dec 2024 | 1,183 | 28 | 30 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 4 | – | – | 6 | 2 |
| 2024 state election | 22 Sep 2024 | – | 30.9 | 29.2 | 13.5 | 12.1 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 1.7 |
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "Brandenburg: Dietmar Woidke im zweiten Wahlgang zum Brandenburger Ministerpräsidenten gewählt". tagesschau.de (in German). 11 December 2024.
- ^ "Brandenburg: Woidke zum Ministerpräsidenten gewählt". ZDFheute (in German). 11 December 2024.
- ^ "Vier Brandenburger BSW-Abgeordnete aus der Partei ausgetreten". rbb24.de (in German). 11 November 2025.
- ^ a b "Brandenburger Finanzminister Crumbach verkündet Austritt aus BSW". rbb24.de (in German). 1 May 2026.
- ^ "BSW-Fraktion schlägt Forderung nach Treuebekenntnis zur Koalition aus". rbb24.de (in German). 3 January 2026.
- ^ a b "Brandenburger SPD beendet Koalition mit BSW - Minister sollen im Amt bleiben". rbb24.de (in German). 6 January 2026.
- ^ "BSW könnte gemeinsam mit AfD für Neuwahlen stimmen". rbb24.de (in German). 8 January 2026.
- ^ "Landtag lehnt Antrag auf Auflösung ab - BSW-Abgeordnete stimmen mit AfD". rbb24.de (in German). 9 January 2026.