2026 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election

Under the Constitution of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state election must be held between 58 and 61 months after the start of the legislative period. The 8th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was constituted on 26 October 2021. As no early dissolution of the parliament occurred, the election date was set to 20 September 2026, within the permissible window of 30 August to 22 November 2026.^[3]

The Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern comprises at least 71 seats, with 36 allocated in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting and the rest through closed party lists. German citizens aged 16 or older who have resided in the state for at least 37 days are eligible to vote, while those aged 18 or older with at least three months of primary residence in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern can stand for election, unless barred by a final court ruling. Seats are distributed using the Hare/Niemeyer method.

Erwin Sellering (SPD), who was Minister-President since 2008, resigned in 2017 due to ill health, proposing Federal Minister of Family Affairs Manuela Schwesig as successor. She resigned from the third Merkel cabinet and continued with the SPD-CDU coalition, and also had to undergo medical treatment in 2019-2020. After a landslide win in 2021, winning 34 of 36 constituencies which expanded the parliament size from 71 to 79 seats, the SPD was six seats short of a majority, which could have been provided by CDU again, or The Left, with the second place AfD being off limits due to being subject to Germany's firewall policy that rejects cooperation. Schwesig picked The Left, forming the Second Schwesig cabinet.

The September 2026 poll numbers would not allow Manuela Schwesig to renew her two-party coalition with the Left Party as together they would reach 44%, same as AfD and CDU combined. If the Greens clear 5% election threshold, she could try to stay in office as Minister-President at the head of a three-party alliance of SPD with the Left and the Greens.^[4]

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the SPD has been the largest political party since the 1998 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election. This was quite different in the 2024 European & 2025 Federal elections when the SPD of Chancellor Scholz was on the ballot and only won 10% & 12% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with only about a quarter of the votes that AfD and CDU won combined.

The CDU, the party of Chancellor Merz, in 1990 had started at 38% in M-V, but dropped in 2021 to a national low of 13%, which since was lowered to 12% in the 2024 Brandenburg state election. In early September 2026, the CDU polled at 7% or 6%, in danger of losing representation due to the 5% election threshold. It is thus unlikely to enter a formal government coalition as it lacks strength for a two-party coalition with the SPD, and rejects direct cooperation with the Left. The FDP is very likely to lose representation in this state according to polls, while the BSW passed the 5% in Saxony-Anhalt despite polling 4%.

During the final weeks of the election, the 2026 Merz government crisis were ongoing.

The table below lists parties currently represented in the 7th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The following minor parties submitted a state list of candidates to the returning officer and were approved to appear on the ballot:^[5]

• Alliance C – Christians for Germany (Bündnis C)
• Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
• Ecological-Democratic Party (ÖDP)
• Free Voters (FW)
• Party Human Climate Animal-Protection (Tierschutzpartei)
• The Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative (Die PARTEI)
• Party of Progress (PdF)
• Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN)
• Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice (BSW)
• Team Freedom [de] (TF)
• Tradesman's Party of Germany
• Volt Germany (Volt)
• WE LIVE DEMOCRACY (WLD)