2021 Weranian House of Councillors election

2021 Weranian Herrstag election

22 January 2021
116 (of 232) seats to the Herrstag 117 seats are needed for a majority
Leader Otto von Hößlin Luise Höcherl Klaus Reimann Party NKP SRPO PMZ Leader since 3rd August 2015 17th October 2017 6th September 2009 Last election 109 seats 80 13 seats Seats needed 8 37 104   Leader Arvydas Ražauskas Käthe Schickdanze Peter Lötzsch Party NNK DA OSAI Leader since 20th March 1999 18th October 2014 17th May 2012 Last election 7 seats 6 seats 5 seats Seats needed 110 111 112   Leader Remigijus Balčiūnas Yvonne Buchholz Party SDT Grüns Leader since 23rd October 2016 7th November 2015 Last election 5 seats 2 seats Seats needed 112 115

The 11^th election of members of the Herrstag will be held on the 22 January 2021 to elect 116 of the 232 members of the Herrstag, the upper house of the then 777-member bicameral Bundestag of Werania, for a term of six years.

The 116 members up for re-election will be elected via a mixture of single non-transferable vote and first-past-the-post in 74 multi- and single-member districts based on Regierungsbezirke borders. The election will be for members of the Herrstag last elected in 2015 and will be held the same day as elections for the provincial governments of Ruttland, Roetenberg, Bonnlitz-Ostbrücken, Wittislich and Westbrücken.

Electoral process

Werania has since the creation of an elected upper house in 1991 used a plurality voting system based on the boundaries of the 74 Regierungsbezirke in Werania. Some of these electoral districts are single-member and thereby utilise first-past-the-post voting whilst others are multi-member and use single non-transferable vote of between 3 to 9 members. Should a party or coalition gain 117 members of the upper house they will have a simple majority whilst if they have 155 seats they will have a two-thirds majority that is able to amend the constitution.

Voters have to registrar to vote by the 17 December. In order to be eligible to vote one must be over the age of 18, be a citizen of Werania, have a permanent address in Werania and not be currently in prison.

The Herrstag seats up for election in 2021 were lasted elected on the 16 January 2015. Their terms officially expire on the 16 January with the election being scheduled to be held no later then the 29 January 2021. On the 2 December the Präsidium des Bundes Charlotte II announced that the Herrstag would be formally dissolved on the 5 December to be elected for the 22 January.

Background

At the last Herrstag election held in 2018 the governing coalition of the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania (SRPO) and the Modern Centre Party (PMZ) lost their majority in the Herrstag, relying on the Weranic Section of the Workers' International (OSAI) and the Sotirian Democratic Homeland (SDT) to maintain a legislative majority. The SRPO-PMZ government however lost the 2019 Weranian federal election to the opposition National Consolidation Party (NKP) who formed a coalition with the Democratic Alternative (DA).

Despite having a majority in the lower house, the NKP-DA coalition lacks a majority in the Herrstag despite the NKP being the largest party in the chamber. It has as such been reliant on independent members and the SDT to govern with a legislative majority. Having enjoyed strong support in opinion polls since entering office the NKP-DA coalition has made it a priority to secure a strong majority in upper house elections arguing that the current situation is leading to legislative deadlock. Opposition parties have in comparison argued that a strong opposition is needed in the upper house and that the government if granted a majority will become complacent or be given free reign to implement unpopular policies.

Since the 2019 federal election, the Greens have overtaken the SRPO as the main opposition party in many opinion polls, particularly following large scale climate protests that started in the summer of 2020. The Herrstag elections have been seen as a test for SRPO leader Luise Höcherl, who was elected in 2020, in whether she has been successful in rebuilding the party's popularity.

Opinion polling

In the run-up to the election, various organizations conducted opinion polls to gauge voting intentions for both the 2021 Herrstag elections and 2023 Volkstag elections. The polls shown are an aggregate for three polling companies - Weranian Politics Review, Eckhardt and Nord Communications and Staatsmann Group.

Date									Lead
	NKP	SRPO	Green	PMZ	DA	OSAI	NNK	Other
January 2020	44.6%	9.2%	17.5%	13.8%	2.2%	5.7%	3.4%	2.5%	27.1%
February 2020	43.2%	17.7%	14.6%	9.4%	3.1%	4.8%	3.2%	3.3%	25.5%
March 2020	42.5%	16.8%	13.9%	10.4%	4.6%	5.1%	3.4%	3.1%	25.7%
April 2020	44.7%	16.2%	12.5%	12.7%	3.6%	4.7%	3.6%	3.4%	28.5%
May 2020	39.7%	11.4%	21.5%	11.2%	2.4%	4.4%	3.4%	2.6%	18.2%
June 2020	41.2%	10.6%	22.4%	12.4%	4.6%	5.2%	3.4%	2.5%	18.8%
July 2020	40.7%	13.2%	20.6%	11.8%	2.3%	4.6%	2.9%	2.5%	20.1%
August 2020	41.4%	11.6%	21.8%	12.4%	2.8%	5.7%	3.2%	2.3%	19.6%
September 2020	39.6%	9.9%	22.4%	14.6%	2.5%	5.2%	3.6%	2.0%	17.4%
October 2020	42.5%	10.2%	20.7%	13.2%	3.1%	5.8%	3.1%	2.4%	21.8%
November 2020	43.2%	12.7%	21.4%	10.6%	2.7%	5.5%	4.1%	2.5%	21.8%
December 2020	40.5%	13.2%	20.8%	10.2%	2.4%	5.8%	3.8%	2.7%	19.7%

Pre-election composition

↓
46	61	5	5	50	65
Opposition seats not up	Opposition seats up	CB	CB up	Governing coalition seats up	Governing coalition seats not up