NRW election: Is Günther's landslide victory an omen?

That's what the parties say

Created: 05/09/2022, 18:24

By: Linus Prien

After the CDU was able to win a major election in Schleswig-Holstein, the party leaders reacted.

The party leaders also turned their attention to North Rhine-Westphalia.

Kiel/ Berlin - The CDU and Prime Minister Daniel Günther won the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein by a wide margin.

Günther's party was able to claim 43.4 percent of the votes.

With only 16.0 percent, the SPD marked a historically poor result and became the third strongest force.

The Greens got 18.3 percent of the vote, while the FDP slipped to 6.4 percent.

The AfD failed at the five percent hurdle – as did the left.

But despite the sometimes spectacular results, the focus is already on the next election: on Sunday (May 15) it is the turn of the citizens of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Whether Schleswig-Holstein allows conclusions about the outcome in the west?

The leaders of the parties in Berlin naturally had very different points of view: An overview of their forecasts and goals for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.

NRW election: CDU hopes for tailwind from Schleswig-Holstein

CDU leader Friedrich Merz spoke on Monday of an "outstanding success" and emphasized: "This is tailwind for us as a federal party, but of course it's also tailwind for North Rhine-Westphalia.

After the election is before the election.” In NRW, the mood for the CDU is improving continuously.

It is now as good as in Schleswig-Holstein.

Hendrik Wüst, CDU Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, said: "That's what it's all about: becoming the strongest force, getting a government mandate to ensure stable conditions in North Rhine-Westphalia as well."

Daniel Günther (r, CDU) and Hendrik Wüst (CDU) are satisfied with the election results.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

Election winner Daniel Günther explained the election result by the fact that the CDU had taken a clear course and put security at the center.

For them, the successful government work in the Jamaica coalition and the new style cultivated there have paid off.

The coalition partners would have treated each other to success.

In crises, they would have included the SPD opposition.

Günther also attributed the success of the CDU to the wide range in the election.

The CDU occupied its list equally with men and women, young and old were represented on it.

"This shows that a CDU that positions itself in a modern way, that also represents clear issues at the point, has every chance of achieving such results." In addition, the CDU politician pleaded for a women's quota in the federal party.

Election in North Rhine-Westphalia: SPD leadership remains optimistic despite the northern debacle

SPD co-chairman Lars Klingbeil was confident about North Rhine-Westphalia despite losing the election.

The polls showed that the SPD and its top candidate Thomas Kutschaty had "a very good chance" in the most populous federal state, said Klingbeil on Monday after a meeting of the SPD presidium in Berlin: "I'm also quite sure that in the end Thomas Kutschaty will be the next prime minister in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

Klingbeil attributed the historically poor result of the Schleswig-Holstein SPD primarily to the great popularity of Prime Minister Daniel Günther of the CDU.

"There was no mood of change," he admitted.

"It wasn't a nice evening for us yesterday."

The starting conditions in North Rhine-Westphalia are completely different.

NRW election on Sunday: AfD hopes for clan crime

AfD leader Tino Chrupalla was disappointed by the poor election results.

The AfD could not reach the five percent hurdle and will therefore no longer be part of the state parliament in Schleswig-Holstein.

However, the AfD politician pointed out that "small parties" could also run the risk of being thrown out of the state parliament.

In addition, Chrupalla said that his party could not be sufficiently distinguished from the CDU and the FPD.

With regard to the North Rhine-Westphalia election, he said: Schleswig-Holstein was purely a personal election, with great satisfaction with the state government and the Prime Minister.

“It looks a little different in NRW.

Issues such as housing shortages, inflation and clan crime are much more likely to have an effect and we will focus on that in the election campaign over the next few days.”

NRW election 2022: FDP still hopes for black and yellow - Wüst less strong than Günther?

Because of Günther's popularity and the Ukraine war, FDP chairman Christian Lindner spoke of "difficult conditions" for the liberals in the Schleswig-Holstein election.

"Unfortunately, the result is not what we would have liked."

In NRW, the "situation is different" than in the northernmost state with the popular Prime Minister Günther, said the top liberal.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, with the CDU incumbent Wüst, it is “very much about the coalition question”.

"Anyone who wants a middle-of-the-road policy must make the FDP strong," said Lindner, referring to North Rhine-Westphalia.

The FDP top candidate in Schleswig-Holstein, Bernd Buchholz, campaigned on Monday for the formation of a black and yellow state government.

The CDU has significantly more agreement with the FDP "than is the case with the Greens".

Lindner also saw the question of "green or yellow" as defining for NRW.

FDP top candidate Joachim Stamp is striving for “a continuation of the successful black and yellow government”.

However, the polls for the North Rhine-Westphalia election show little chance of that.

NRW also lost for the left?

Surveys give little hope

Linke boss Janine Wissler was disappointed.

Nevertheless, one will use the week and fight for every vote before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Wissler said.

In addition, she wants to prepare the party congress at the end of June so that "the left can get back on track".

Wissler now wants to focus on the issue of child poverty in the NRW election campaign.

She accused the traffic light coalition of having "postponed" this issue because it had not provided the funds for the planned basic child security.

After a sexism scandal and the resignation of co-chair Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, the left in Schleswig-Holstein fell to just 1.7 percent of the vote.

"It was really an icy headwind that we had to fight against," said top candidate Johann Knigge-Blietschau.

It was almost impossible to set your own topics.

Those who drop in the polls also get no media attention.

The left in North Rhine-Westphalia is once again faced with this problem: in the Sunday questions, it ranks at around three percent.