The 2005 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 20 February 2005 to elect the members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Heide Simonis was defeated. After a failed attempt to invest a minority SPD–Green government supported by the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), the SPD agreed to join a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). CDU leader Peter Harry Carstensen was subsequently elected Minister-President. Campaign and issues Surveys before the election indicated that most voters considered high unemployment in Germany and Schleswig-Holstein to be the key issue of the campaign. Pre-election polls indicated that the personal popularity of Heide Simonis was still high, though, and that the SPD–Green coalition had the support of a plurality of voters. However, the unpopularity of the federal SPD and the Hartz IV reforms appeared to have taken a toll. Parties The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. Opinion polling Election result |- | colspan=8| |- ! colspan="2" | Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | align=right| 576,095 | align=right| 40.2 | align=right| 5.0 | align=right| 30 | align=right| 3 | align=right| 43.5 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | align=right| 554,879 | align=right| 38.7 | align=right| 4.4 | align=right| 29 | align=right| 12 | align=right| 42.0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | align=right| 94,935 | align=right| 6.6 | align=right| 1.0 | align=right| 4 | align=right| 3 | align=right| 5.8 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | align=right| 89,387 | align=right| 6.2 | align=right| 0.0 | align=right| 4 | align=right| 1 | align=right| 5.8 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW) | align=right| 51,920 | align=right| 3.6 | align=right| 0.5 | align=right| 2 | align=right| 1 | align=right| 2.9 |- ! colspan=8| |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | National Democratic Party (NPD) | align=right| 27,676 | align=right| 1.9 | align=right| 0.9 | align=right| 0 | align=right| ±0 | align=right| 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left | Others | align=right| 39,913 | align=right| 2.8 | align=right| | align=right| 0 | align=right| ±0 | align=right| 0 |- ! align=right colspan=2| Total ! align=right| 1,434,805 ! align=right| 100.0 ! align=right| !