Elections in Bremen, Germany’s Smallest Land: Test Laboratory for Germany, or City State Particularism?

Abstract: As the only Land election in 2007, the Bremen election was understood by the main German political parties as a test for the state of federal-level politics. As expected, both coalition parties lost heavily, and the opposition profited. But the outcome of a red-green coalition looks unlikely in any other Land. The particularities of the electoral law of Bremen favoured extreme-right and populist parties, while the success of the Linkspartei appears to reflect federal-level issues, as refracted through the lens of Bremen politics.