CDU clearly wins in Schleswig-Holstein: SPD behind the Greens
Created: 05/08/2022Updated: 05/08/2022 18:18
Daniel Günther, Prime Minister and CDU top candidate, laughs.
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
In Schleswig-Holstein, after a series of electoral defeats in the federal and state governments, the CDU is winning again for the first time - also thanks to the popular prime minister.
With whom will Daniel Günther govern in the future?
Kiel - Prime Minister Daniel Günther's CDU clearly won the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein.
In the forecasts from ARD and ZDF, the Christian Democrats were well ahead of all other parties on Sunday evening.
Günther can probably choose with whom he will govern in the future after five years of the Jamaica coalition.
The SPD fell to its worst result in a state election in Schleswig-Holstein and probably even ended up behind the Greens.
The fourth strongest force was the FDP.
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The election in the northernmost state is also of national political importance.
For the CDU, after a series of defeats at federal level and in several states - most recently in Saarland - it was a success for the first time in almost a year.
Even more important, however, will be the state elections in the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia next Sunday.
The NRW election is also often referred to as the "small federal election".
The first numbers from Kiel after the polls closed at 6 p.m. looked like this: The CDU came to 41 to 43 percent - a huge plus compared to the 2017 election (32.0 percent).
Your previous coalition partners, the Greens (2017: 12.9) and FDP (2017: 11.5) achieved 17 to 19.5 percent and 7 percent respectively.
The SPD (2017: 27.3) under top candidate Thomas Losse-Müller only got about 16 percent - in Schleswig-Holstein the worst state election result in its history (previously 2009: 25.4 percent).
The AfD (2017: 5.9) has to worry about re-entering the state parliament.
Die Linke (2017: 3.8) clearly fails again at the five percent hurdle.
The South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), the party of the Danish minority, will enter the state parliament with around 6 percent of the vote (2017: 3.3).
For Günther, the result is also a great personal success.
The 48-year-old is one of the prime ministers with the highest popularity ratings nationwide.
As the head of the strongest party, he now has various options.
In theory, he could continue the Jamaica tripartite alliance with the Greens and FDP.
But that is considered unlikely because it is also enough for a two-party alliance.
According to the forecasts, a government with the Greens, with the SPD and also with the FDP would be possible.
For the little-known SPD challenger Losse-Müller (49), the poor result also means a personal defeat.
Günther, on the other hand, could also become even more important in federal politics.
His name is now also mentioned when there is speculation about the Union's next candidate for chancellor.
Ironically, Günther, who was never a great support for Friedrich Merz in the Union, gave him his first success.
First of all, however, the eyes are now directed towards NRW.
According to the latest polls, the CDU and SPD are roughly on par there.
The Social Democrats, with Thomas Kutschaty as their top candidate, hope to be able to replace CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst.
The NRW election is seven and a half months after the federal election as the first major mood test for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the new CDU opposition leader Merz.
In Schleswig-Holstein, a total of around 2.3 million voters were called upon to cast their vote.
16 parties were present with state lists.
Almost 300 candidates are standing in 35 constituencies.
Voter turnout at 5 p.m. was 54.7 percent.
dpa
