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CDU politician Philipp Amthor at the CDU election party in Schwerin
Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa
Just four years ago, Philipp Amthor was considered the CDU's promising young talent - now he has lost his direct mandate.
After counting 98 percent of the votes, the 28-year-old got 20.7 percent of the votes, four years ago it was 31.2 percent.
The SPD challenger Erik von Malottki or the AfD politician Enrico Komning will replace them - both are still head-to-head with 24.8 percent to 24.7 percent of the votes.
Amthor could still get a place in the Bundestag: He is on list number 1 of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Amthor had stumbled upon an affair involving the Augustus Intelligence company in spring 2020.
He had campaigned for the company politically, although he was also on the board of Augustus Intelligence and held shares.
The young politician is not the only prominent politician who failed because of a direct mandate.
CDU right winger Hans-Georg Maaßen was also defeated in southern Thuringia - against SPD politician and Olympic winner Frank Ullrich.
And in Rhineland-Palatinate, Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner could lose her direct mandate.
After three quarters of the votes in their constituency of Kreuznach have been counted, SPD challenger Joe Weingarten is just under five percentage points ahead of Klöckner with 31.8 percent.
In the 2009 Bundestag election, Klöckner received 47 percent of the first votes.
In the years that followed, she did not run directly.
Spahn and Merz each get 40 percent
Other Union politicians, however, seem to be more successful.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn has defended his direct mandate in the Bundestag.
In the constituency of Steinfurt I - Borken I in North Rhine-Westphalia, after counting all electoral districts, the CDU politician got 40.0 percent of the first votes, but is significantly less than in 2017 (51.3 percent).
CDU economic politician Friedrich Merz has also taken the direct mandate in the Hochsauerlandkreis.
After counting almost all electoral districts, he got 40.5 percent of the first votes and thus distanced the SPD candidate Dirk Wiese (32.2 percent).
In the CDU stronghold, Merz scores significantly better than his party, which achieved 33.5 percent of the second vote.
Predecessor Patrick Sensburg, whom Merz had ousted as a direct candidate, achieved 48.0 percent in 2017.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer is also moving back into the Bundestag - albeit with a massive loss of votes.
In the constituency of Passau he received 30.7 percent of the first votes, 16.8 percentage points less than four years ago.
The CSU politician does worse than his party, which falls from 40.5 to 32.5 percent of the second vote.
mrc / dpa
