NRW election 2022 live: Polls show Wüst wafer-thin ahead - Sunday showdown is imminent

Created: 05/14/2022, 19:59

By: Stephanie Munk

An important political course is pending in Germany: a new government is being elected in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The SPD and CDU are almost level in polls.

• State elections in NRW 2022: On Sunday (May 15), 13 million eligible voters in North Rhine-Westphalia will decide on their new state government.

• Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) wants to remain in office, his challenger is SPD top candidate Thomas Kutschaty.

• This

  news ticker for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia

  on Sunday, May 15 is constantly updated.

Düsseldorf/Munich – More than 13 million citizens in North Rhine-Westphalia can go to the ballot box in the state elections in NRW 2022 on Sunday.

It is the third of a total of four state elections planned for this year.

In the most populous federal state, there is a close race between the ruling CDU and the SPD, with the most recent polls for the NRW elections showing the incumbent CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst by two to four percentage points.

The challenger is the SPD's top candidate, Thomas Kutschaty.

State elections in North Rhine-Westphalia 2022: Wüst wants to remain prime minister in North Rhine-Westphalia

A coalition of CDU and FDP has been reacting in the Düsseldorf state parliament for five years with a wafer-thin majority of just one seat.

After the 2017 state election, Armin Laschet and the CDU replaced SPD Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft, whose state association had achieved its worst result since 1947.

When Laschet moved into the Bundestag in October after his unsuccessful candidacy for Chancellor, the then Minister of Transport Wüst took over the office of Prime Minister.

NRW election 2022: Wüst and Kuchaty want to be prime ministers

The head of the opposition is Wüst's SPD challenger, Thomas Kutschaty.

The Greens have 14 MPs in the state parliament, the AfD has 13 seats.

The left recently failed at the five percent hurdle and is not represented in the state parliament.

Current surveys also predict that she will fail at the five percent hurdle.

It is questionable whether the office bonus of the current head of government Wüst for the CDU is questionable: he only took over the office from Armin Laschet in October 2021.

The SPD relies on opposition leader Kuchaty, who headed the Ministry of Justice under ex-Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft.

Lead candidate Mona Neubaur is running for the Greens.

The FDP also wants to govern in the 18th state parliament with its state chairman and current Deputy Prime Minister Joachim Stamp.

The AfD appears with its parliamentary group leader Markus Wagner.

NRW election live: Up to five possible coalitions are conceivable

According to the latest polls, it would not be enough for the black-yellow coalition to continue.

In any case, after the election, a Jamaica alliance of CDU, Greens and FDP, a traffic light coalition led by the SPD with Greens and FDP or a grand coalition of Christian and Social Democrats should be possible.

But it could also be just enough for a two-party alliance between the CDU or SPD and the Greens.

If the CDU were voted out of office in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Union parties would only have five out of 16 prime ministers, while the SPD would lead a total of nine state governments in North Rhine-Westphalia with one head of government.

After the bitter defeat in the federal elections last year and in the state elections in Saarland, a defeat in the most populous federal state would threaten the CDU with a further loss of importance and less say in the Bundesrat.

On the other hand, the clear election victory of Minister President Daniel Günther (CDU) in Schleswig-Holstein last Sunday could bring an upswing.