CDU wins local elections in North Rhine Westphalia according to first results

After several months of political confinement due to COVID-19, Germany returned to normality with local elections in the

of North Rhine Westphalia, the most populous in the country.

The first results that were released by local television WDR, indicate that the CDU was the most voted party with 36% and the SPD suffered a severe defeat by obtaining a poor 23.5% of the votes, eight points less than Five years ago.

The surprise of the election day was the result obtained by the environmentalist party the Greens, an excellent 19%, eight points more than in the elections of five years ago, a result that already augurs as the results of the general elections that will have place in the fall of next year.

Some 14 million voters over the age of 16 had an appointment with the polls on Sunday in the country's first mass elections since the pandemic broke out.

Due to the virus there were no rallies of the main parties, the electoral campaign was in the background and in the polling stations the use of masks was mandatory and voters had to bring their own pen to mark the ballots.

The elections in North Rhine Westphalia are the third most important in Germany, after the Bundestag and the European elections because other EU citizens and 16-year-olds can vote in local elections.

And Sunday was not only a vote for local councils, mayors and councilors, but also a crucial test for the land's prime minister, the Christian Democrat Armin Laschet.

Although the name of the politician did not appear on any ballot, the result of his party was the first sign that Laschet can continue to wear a profile of a winner for his party that can help him win the coveted position of president of the CDU.

Thanks to the comfortable triumph of his party, Laschet's career received a new impetus to reach the party congress with a winning bonus that can help him to be elected president of the Christian Democrats.

The poor result obtained by the SPD may also be a warning for the candidacy of Olaf Scholz, the current finance minister, who has already been nominated by the party leadership as a candidate for chancellor.

For the SPD, every election in North Rhine-Westphalia is a matter of prestige, as the state continues to be regarded as “the heart of social democracy”.

Instead, the Greens showed again that the game has a great future.

National polls also show that the environmental party may be getting more votes than the SPD in the general elections, a trend that can make it the privileged partner to form a coalition sent an encouraging message to the country.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party only got 6% of the vote.