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Defeat in Rhineland-Palatinate: CDU top candidate Christian Baldauf
Photo: Sascha Steinbach / EPA
In the past few weeks, the CDU and SPD had fought head-to-head in Rhineland-Palatinate - on election evening, the Social Democrats left their competition well behind.
Country manager Malu Dreyer (SPD) can hope for more than 34 percent according to initial projections.
The CDU of challenger Christian Baldauf, on the other hand, fell well below 30 percent compared to 2016.
Now the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU top candidate has admitted defeat.
“The result will no longer be postponed in such a way that we come before the SPD.
Ms. Dreyer will act, that is completely correct and normal, «said Baldauf on Sunday evening at a press conference in Mainz.
The previous negative record was the state elections in 2016, in which the party under the then top candidate Julia Klöckner had achieved 31.8 percent.
Now the party comes in the projections to 26 percent - it would be the historically worst result of the CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Soon sees the Corona election campaign as a problem
According to Baldauf, the corona pandemic made the CDU's election campaign very difficult and thus contributed to the poor performance.
"You couldn't get close at all," he said.
It was not at all possible to attend football matches or to go to restaurants to talk to people and to convince them.
In addition, the government is in the foreground in times of crisis.
"The omnipresence in the media cannot be represented for an opposition leader."
The mask affair may also have played a role in the poor performance of the CDU.
Several previous members of the Bundestag are suspected of corruption because they have earned hundreds of thousands of euros as a commission from doing business with masks or are said to have accepted donations from the autocratic oil state of Azerbaijan.
However, the CDU politician has ruled out any quick personal consequences after the defeat: "In terms of personnel, we will not change anything for the time being," said Baldauf.
There is of course a content analysis.
“We have to see why that happened.
It will be neatly and properly processed, ”added Baldauf.
The 53-year-old left it open whether he would seek the post of parliamentary group leader in the future.
You have a "normal timetable" for the next few days.
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mrc / dpa