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SPD top candidate Thomas Kutschaty at the polling station in Essen: Many first votes at home, but heavy losses for the party
Photo: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL / EPA
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst can no longer take the direct mandate in his home constituency Borken I not far from the Dutch border.
After counting around 95 percent of the results, the CDU politician was unassailable with almost 61 percent in the first votes, as the data from the Borken district showed.
In doing so, he left his competitors from the SPD, Greens, FDP and the party far behind.
In his home town of Rhede, Wüst even managed to get 68.8 percent of the first votes after counting almost all the results, putting him more than 50 percentage points ahead of SPD direct candidate Nina Andrieshen.
Wüst had voted himself in a polling station in Rhede on Sunday.
(You can find an overview of all NRW results here.)
Kuchaty wins in Essen, Neubaur is defeated in Düsseldorf
SPD top candidate Thomas Kutschaty also got the most votes in his Essen I constituency.
As can be seen from the election statistics of the city of Essen on Sunday evening, after counting almost all district results, he was ahead with around 48.6 percent and a clear gap.
The Greens' top candidate Mona Neubaur, on the other hand, missed out on a direct mandate.
In her Düsseldorf I constituency, after the counting of almost all district results, Neubr was only in second place with around 27 percent of the first votes, according to the election statistics of the city of Düsseldorf.
The direct mandate was taken by the CDU member of parliament Olaf Lehne.
The CDU and the Greens are growing – and could govern together
The CDU emerged from the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia as the strongest force overall and was able to increase its share of the vote.
However, it is unclear who will govern the state in the future.
The previous black-yellow coalition of CDU and FDP no longer has a majority in the state parliament due to significant losses for the liberals (read the six lessons from the NRW election here).
The SPD also performed poorly, achieving a historically poor result.
The Greens, on the other hand, were able to more than double their result compared to the previous state election in 2017. They should therefore be set as junior partners in a new government alliance.
According to the projections, black-green would have a majority in parliament, just like an SPD-led traffic light government.
According to initial projections, however, Wüst claimed the task of forming a government for himself.
He spoke of a "clear government mandate for me and the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia".
fek/AFP
