State elections were held in Brandenburg on 27 September 2009, the same day as the German federal elections and the Schleswig-Holstein state elections

Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2009

State elections were held in Schleswig-Holstein on 27 September 2009, the same day as the German federal elections and the Brandenburg state elections...

. The elections determined control of the Landtag of Brandenburg

Landtag of Brandenburg

The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the state of Brandenburg in Germany.It has 88 members of parliament, currently belonging to four parties.-History:...

 (Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

's legislature).

Entering the election, the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union

Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 (CDU) governed together in a grand coalition

Grand coalition

A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...

 headed by Minister-President

Minister-President

A minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers...

 Matthias Platzeck

Matthias Platzeck

Matthias Platzeck is a German politician. He has been Minister-President of Brandenburg since 2002 and party chairman of the SPD from November 2005 to April 2006.-Private life:...

 (SPD).

Platzeck once again ran as the top candidate for the SPD. The top candidate of the Left Party

The Left (Germany)

The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....

 was the leader of the party's faction in the Landtag, Kerstin Kaiser

Kerstin Kaiser

Kerstin Kaiser is a former informal agent of the East German secret police Stasi and politician for the far-left party The Left....

, while the CDU's top candidate was Johanna Wanka

Johanna Wanka

Johanna Wanka is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. She is Minister of Science and Culture of the state of Lower Saxony, in the Cabinet McAllister...

, the current Minister for Science, Research, and Culture in Brandenburg's government. The far-right German People's Union

German People's Union

The German People's Union is a nationalist political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. Financially, it is largely dependent on Frey....

 (DVU) nominated faction leader Liane Hesselbarth as its top candidate, while the campaign of the Green Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

 was led by both Marie Luise von Halem and Axel Vogel. The Free Democratic Party

Free Democratic Party (Germany)

The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...

 (FDP), meanwhile, nominated Hans-Peter Goetz, a Teltow

Teltow

Teltow is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-Geography:Teltow is part of the agglomeration of Berlin. The distance to the Berlin city centre is , while the distance to Potsdam is ....

 lawyer, as its top candidate.

The SPD once again came in first in the election, gaining a slightly larger share of the vote than in 2004

Brandenburg state election, 2004

The Brandenburg state election, 2004, was conducted on September 19, 2004, to elect members to the Landtag of Brandenburg, the state legislature of Brandenburg.-Issues and Campaign:...

but losing two seats. The vote totals for the second-place Left Party and third-place CDU were largely unchanged from the last election, with a slight drop in support for the Left and a marginal gain for the CDU. Both the FDP and the Greens passed the 5% hurdle for representation, thus gaining seats in the Landtag for the first time since the 1990 election. In contrast, the far-right DVU saw its share of the vote collapse to just 1.2% and is no longer represented in the Landtag.

After the election, the SPD and The Left formed a "red-red" coalition, allowing Matthias Platzeck to continue as Minister-President.