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FDP top candidate Hans-Ulrich Rülke: result improved, but not in government?
Photo: Felix Kästle / dpa
Before the state elections in Baden-Württemberg, there was much speculation about the replacement of the black-green government by a traffic light coalition of the Greens, FDP and SPD.
The projections allow such a constellation in any case - but according to current results, the Greens and the SPD could theoretically do without the yellow phase when building the traffic light.
According to ARD, the Greens and the SPD came together with 32.4 and 11.6 percent of the votes to 72 of the 143 seats in the Stuttgart state parliament (as of 7:58 p.m.).
That would just be enough for a wafer-thin majority - a government participation of the FDP would be theoretically dispensable for the future Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.
According to ZDF projections, however, it is not yet enough for a red-green government without the participation of the FDP.
The reason is that the state parliament will have 151 seats according to the ZDF projections, so 76 seats are needed for a majority.
According to SPIEGEL data, the Greens and the SPD just miss the majority.
Whether a green-red government is even an option for the parties remains to be seen in the exploratory talks.
The Greens and the SPD formed a coalition in Winfried Kretschmann's first term in office from 2011 to 2016, when the SPD politician Nils Schmid was the deputy prime minister.
Even then, it was barely enough for the alliance: the parties ruled with 71 out of 138 seats.
Kretschmann wants to hold talks with all parties
The Greens would write to "all parties in the democratic constitutional arc" in the coming week and invite them to talks, said Kretschmann - and thus indirectly excluded the AfD.
The fact that the Christian Democrats are starting this should not be taken as a sign, said Kretschmann.
Orient yourself to the election results.
The SPD, on the other hand, is already rejoicing over a possible green-red alliance without the participation of the liberals.
"Now there is already a majority of seats for the SPD and the Greens," wrote the SPD MP Sascha Binder on Twitter, referring to a coalition with the SPD.
He also referred to the projection of the ARD.
For the Social Democrats, the last coalition was accompanied by heavy losses.
After the reign of Kretschmann's Greens, the party lost around half of its voters and slipped to below 13 percent.
The Greens, on the other hand, continued to gain favor after Kretschmann's first term in office and became the strongest force for the first time in the 2016 election.
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fek / dpa
