Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) both won around 6% of votes and re-entered the Landtag after previously falling out in 2016 and 2011, respectively.

[1] In the previous election held on 4 September 2016, the SPD remained the largest party with 30.6% of the vote, a loss of 5.0 percentage points.

[7] Minister-President Schwesig claimed victory after the release of exit polls and spoke of "a wonderful evening for our state and the SPD."

Despite the AfD's losses, state chairman Leif Erik-Holm voiced his satisfaction with the result, particularly the decline of the CDU.

Harald Terpe of the Greens described their performance as "promising" but said that many of the party's key issues are still not a high priority for the state's voters.

[2] The SPD declined to commit to a coalition partner after the election, but a two-party government with either the CDU or The Left was mathematically possible.

Minister President Schwesig described a "stable majority" with "reliable partners" as key to the formation of a new government.

She stated her motivations for reorienting the coalition as a desire for "a new departure", and described The Left as a "social, pragmatic party" with decisive policy overlap with the SPD.