ABSTRACT
The Länder elections in the early months of 1995 proved a first test for the parties and for the party system as it had emerged from ‘Superwahljahr 1994’. The FDP had retained its representation in the Hessen legislature but failed badly in the Nordrhein-Westfalen and Bremen elections. Bündnis 90/Die Grünen proved to be the ‘winners’ in all three elections, continuing a coalition with the SPD in Hessen and forcing the creation of such a coalition in Nordrhein-Westfalen. In Bremen, a new ‘party’ (Arbeit für Bremen) seemed to have imitated the Statt-partei success in Hamburg in 1993, as a local breakaway party winning seats at its first election. Low turnout reflected the satiation of voters with elections through 1994–95.
