The 1988 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 8 May 1988 to elect the members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The snap election was called due to the political stalemate that had occurred in the previous state election of 13 September 1987 and also because of the Barschel affair.^[1]

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The election resulted in SPD winning an absolute majority, so Björn Engholm chose to govern alone without coalition. For the first time in 38 years, CDU had to go into opposition.