The state election in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2021 can have effects until the later federal election.
The balance of power is anything but clear.
The 2021 state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate will take place
on March 14th
.
Prime Minister
Malu Dreyer (SPD)
is
challenged
this time by
Christian Baldauf (CDU)
.
In view of the corona pandemic, the state is prepared to fully rely on postal voting if necessary.
Mainz - If there was a direct election of the Prime Minister, Malu Dreyer would probably be guaranteed another term of office.
The incumbent head of government can
not be sure of
her cause in the
state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate
.
It is unclear whether she will be able to
negotiate
a continuation of the previous
coalition
after the election
- and her SPD is far from becoming the strongest force in the state parliament again.
In the year of the general election, the formation of a
government
in Rhineland-Palatinate can have far-reaching effects.
In the nationwide polls, the
SPD was
only around 15 to 16 percent in the second half of 2020.
A government under SPD leadership in Rhineland-Palatinate would be a signal of hope for the Social Democrats.
For the
CDU
it will be interesting, among other things, whether the formation of a government with the Greens will prove to be a viable model throughout Germany.
Date of the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate for 2021
On
March 14, 2021
Rhineland-Palatinate elect the new parliament.
The
polling stations
are open on this Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Surveys ahead of the 2021 state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate
The majorities are confusing if you follow the forecasts for Rhineland-Palatinate.
The rather unusual
traffic light coalition
of the SPD, FDP and the Greens can perhaps win the majority of the mandates again.
According to surveys from Rhineland-Palatinate, the drastic crash of the SPD compared to the last state election corresponds roughly to the gain of the Greens.
Secure two-party alliances are also possible through
black-red
and
black-green
.
A few weeks before the election, according to a survey, the CDU is just ahead of the ruling SPD.
But the Social Democrats have been able to narrow the gap in the past few months.
In the Insa survey of October 21, the approval rating of the SPD was 27 percent.
On February 23, there was an increase of four percentage points (31 percent).
The surveys show a stable value for the CDU - varying only by one percentage point.
In the surveys by Insa, the ZDF political barometer and Infratest dimap, the Christian Democrats were at 33 percent.
On the other hand, the Greens lost percentage points in the polls.
On October 21, they were still 14 percent - and in the later Infratest surveys at 15 percent - but fell to 12 percent on February 23.
Institute |
date |
SPD |
CDU |
AfD |
FDP |
Green |
left |
Others |
INSA / image |
02/23/2021 |
31 |
33 |
9 |
6th |
12th |
3 |
3 |
ZDF political barometer |
02/05/2021 |
31 |
33 |
7th |
5 |
13th |
4th |
7th |
Infratest dimap / SWR |
01/14/2021 |
28 |
33 |
8th |
6th |
15th |
3 |
7th |
Infratest dimap / SWR |
12/10/2020 |
28 |
34 |
9 |
5 |
15th |
3 |
6th |
INSA / image |
October 21, 2020 |
27 |
33 |
10 |
5 |
14th |
5 |
6th |
Infratest dimap / SWR |
09/10/2020 |
26th |
34 |
9 |
6th |
17th |
4th |
4th |
2016 election results |
03/13/2016 |
36.2 |
31.8 |
12.6 |
6.2 |
5.3 |
2.8 |
4.8 |
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The top candidates for the Rhineland-Palatinate election
Voters cannot directly vote for a prime minister.
In the end, the new state parliament elects the head of government.
It is therefore clear that only
two top candidates can reach
for this office as long as the majorities do not change drastically.
Malu Dreyer (SPD):
At first she ruled as
Prime Minister
in a red-green coalition that she had taken over from her predecessor Kurt Beck.
For her second term of office, Malu Dreyer forged a new government alliance in Mainz, in which the FDP was added.
As
Minister for Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Demography
, she had previously
been part of the state government since 2002.
The Prime Minister was also
acting SPD chairwoman for
several months in 2019
after Andrea Nahles had given up the party chairmanship.
Christian Baldauf (CDU):
He has been a member of the state parliament since 2001 and is
chairman of the CDU parliamentary group
in the current legislative period
.
In
Frankenthal
,
his home in the Palatinate
, Christian Baldauf began his political career as chairman of the Junge Union and was finally elected
chairman of
the
CDU
in 2008
.
Before entering state politics, he had specialized as a lawyer in the field of labor law.
In 2021 he reaches for the office of Prime Minister, which the much better known CDU candidate Julia Klöckner was previously denied.
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Which parties will stand in the state election in 2021?
All parties who want to take part in the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate can submit their lists to the
state
returning officer by
December 29, 2020
.
All
parties that are already represented in the Landtag or Bundestag are
entitled to participate in the election
.
These are:
SPD, CDU, AfD, Greens, Die Linke and FDP
.
All other parties must
collect
a sufficient number of
supporting
signatures and submit them for review.
If the legal requirements are met, the party's approval for the state election in 2021 will be announced later by the state returning officer.
The deadline for this ends on February 8th.
Ballot: first vote and second vote in Rhineland-Palatinate
The electoral procedure corresponds to the system that is also used in federal elections.
With the
first
vote, the voters decide which
direct candidate
from their constituency moves into the state parliament.
With the
second
vote, they choose the
state list of
a party.
So there are two crosses on the ballot for the RLP state election.
52 mandates are distributed with the first vote, the rest results from the second vote.
In the previous election, only the minimum number of 101 members of parliament was elected.
If a party receives more seats as a result of its direct mandates than it is entitled to in percentage terms according to the second votes, the ratio is
balanced out
with
overhang mandates
for other parties.
This increases the number of MPs.
Voting notification and request for postal voting
Every eligible voter in Rhineland-Palatinate should receive a voting
notification
.
This letter informs the voter that he is on the electoral roll.
Anyone who does not appear there cannot take part in the election.
You can register on the
electoral
roll
up to three weeks before the election
if you have not received
voting
notification.
The voting notification is not required at the polling station, but you must be able to show your identity card.
Above all, the notification tells the voter in which
polling station
he can vote and where he can turn to apply for a
postal vote
in Rhineland-Palatinate or an application to change the polling station.
So the letter deals with all the basic information for voting.
State returning officer has taken Corona precautions
Due to the ongoing corona pandemic, the state returning officer in Rhineland-Palatinate has ensured that the state election can also be carried out entirely by postal vote.
In November 2020, he informed about the printing of so many
postal voting envelopes
that the state election in 2021 is 100 percent secured.
If the polling stations are allowed to open, the unused envelopes can be used later in the year for the general election.
Wahl-O-Mat for the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2021
The Federal Agency for Civic Education is again providing the
Wahl-O-Mat for Rhineland-Palatinate
.
With the practical program, voters will also be able to find out which parties they agree most with in 2021.
The Wahl-O-Mat continues to follow a well-known principle: the voter answers a series of
questions that arise from the election programs of all parties
.
In the end, he gets an overall score for his agreement with the parties.
The
parties' answers
to the individual questions are also understandable for the voters.
The publication of Wahl-O-Mat Rhineland-Palatinate is announced for
mid-February 2021
.
As always, the program will be available free of charge.
Three elections in one day in spring 2021
March 14, 2021 is the start of a large number of elections in Germany.
The state elections in Baden-Württemberg and the local elections in Hesse will also take place on this day.
In the course of the year, the state parliaments in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will also be re-elected.
The local elections in Lower Saxony will also take place in autumn.
The date of September 26 has been set for the 2021 federal election.
