Here comes a view on the first and second vote results: The two opposing maps show the party which got the most votes in a constituency, with he first vote (Erststimme) shown on the left and the second vote (Zweitstimme) on the right map (see the previous post or look here for more information on the German electoral system). Click the map for a larger view:

Both maps reveal the important role of CDU/CSU and (much less but still) SPD in the west, whereas DIE LINKE has this status in most of East Germany (including East Berlin). DIE LINKE’s dominance in the east is relativised by the lower population density in that part of Germany, as this projection reveals very well (see here for a conventional map of the election). In some constituencies in the west, SPD could manage to win a direct seat in parliament via the first vote, while the second vote went to CDU, mostly caused by strategic voters in favour of a more left politics and thus giving their first vote to the assumed more successful SPD candidate instead of their own favourite party.
However, further differences between the winners of first and second vote can not be seen from those maps.
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From the previous posts you should now be quite familiar with Germany’s “new” shape when putting the population in perspective. If you are still struggling with it, try this map to see some important cities labelled on top of the map.
Let’s have a look at the results of the general election in Germany and start with the direct candidates elected to the new parliament. Due to the specific German voting system, each voter has two votes: one for a specific candidate in his constituency (and only one is elected per constituency), and a second vote for the party in favour. Those two votes can be for different parties. So the first vote reflects the MPs party affiliation for those elected directly to parliament.
And this is the map from the so called first vote (“Erststimme”) – click it for a larger view: 

It can be seen, that FDP – the most likely new coalition partner of CDU/CSU – did not get any direct candidate elected at all, which is partly caused by the German electoral system that advantages the bigger parties for this vote (but balances this with the second vote).
But we wouldn’t need the map on the right side to see this. The map on the right side has much more interpretative value for those not familiar with the country’s structure: Pleasing for SPD supporters might be the effect of the high population density in the Ruhr-Area, blowing up the red patch in the west of Germany considerably and showing that there are still people left (!) to vote for their local SPD candidate. Pretty well shown is also the East-West division within Berlin, making the former Berlin Wall nowadays the border between DIE LINKE voters and the CDU/SPD part of the city (though SPD mostly is a matter of the suburban ring outside the western part of Berlin). Here our new map also shows clearly the only direct mandate of DIE GRUENEN – hardly recognizable on the conventional map.
There is much more to discover on this map…

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.