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Thomas Kutschaty still has four days left.
The lawyer wants to become Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia for the SPD.
No federal state is as important for the federal government as North Rhine-Westphalia.
In the polls, the SPD and CDU are almost on par – Kuchaty focused primarily on education policy in the election campaign.
He also sees an advantage in his close relationship with Olaf Scholz.
Thomas Kutschaty, top candidate SPD
»Yes, of course we live in difficult times.
It's war in Europe, two or three months ago you couldn't have imagined it at all, conducting a state election campaign in times of war in Europe.
Of course, that also has an impact and it is important now that you lead Germany safely through this crisis with a cool head, and I am very grateful that Olaf Scholz is the Federal Chancellor and no one else.«
Around 13 million eligible voters are called to vote for the new state parliament next Sunday.
In all likelihood, the black and yellow state government will lose its majority.
CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst is running almost without an official bonus.
He took over from Armin Laschet in October 2021 and is now standing for election for the first time.
Wüst hopes for the Schleswig-Holstein effect - there the CDU had achieved a clear election victory on May 8th.
Friedrich Merz, CDU Chairman / Berlin, May 9, 2022
»
This is tailwind for us as a federal party, but of course it is also tailwind for North Rhine-Westphalia.
After the election is before the election
.«
There was also tailwind from Schleswig-Holstein for the Greens.
They achieved a record result in the federal state and could almost triple their share of the vote in NRW compared to 2017.
Top candidate Mona Neubaur's most important campaign helpers: Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck.
Mona Neubaur, top candidate The Greens »
What we do as the Greens is: we accept responsibility in this new reality that Vladimir Putin triggered with his war of aggression.
And we also face the difficult questions within the party, but also as a place in society that tries to offer orientation and support
.«
There will probably not be
a state government
without the Greens - the party is keeping coalition options open with both the SPD and the CDU.
A traffic light would probably also be possible.
And the FDP?
The Liberals are likely to lose votes compared to 2017 and fear ending up in the opposition.
Top candidate and NRW Family Minister Joachim Stamp had very different plans.
Joachim Stamp, leading candidate FDP »We would like to continue working with the Union because we had good experiences here. We've only had a one-vote majority for five years and haven't lost a single vote. [...] And now it's a matter of focusing on the state issues. It's about an economy, a growth-oriented economic policy, that we ensure that there are no new school structure debates, but that the children are encouraged individually.«
It doesn't matter whether state issues or world politics are decisive in the end: The state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia - also known as "small federal elections" - are the first major mood test for the traffic light coalition at federal level.