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Mona Neubaur: The Greens have tripled their result
Photo: Friso Gentsch / dpa
"The CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia clearly won this election": Prime Minister and CDU top candidate Hendrik Wüst is happy about his party's election victory and sees a clear government mandate.
»People have clearly made us the strongest force.
That is the task of forming and leading a future government.«
Green top candidate Mona Neubaur also claims a clear government mandate for her party.
The Greens can look forward to a record result in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Neubaur is very happy with the result.
She spoke of a great "leap of faith" for her party.
"It's a huge, huge task for us to continue working hard on this leap of faith and to finally make up-to-date politics in the next state government," she said.
With the historically worst result, according to the first numbers, the SPD is out of the election.
Top candidate Thomas Kutschaty admitted defeat.
"Unfortunately, the result of this state election is not what we had imagined," he says.
"Our result is below our expectations, we wanted to be the strongest party." However, the number one election goal was achieved, namely the vote out of the black-yellow government.
According to the results, there is hardly any way around the Greens when forming a government.
The courting for the party has already begun – also on the part of the SPD, which apparently has not yet given up hope of participating in the government despite the poor results.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert advocated exploring the chances of forming a red-green state government.
"Of course, the runner-up can also negotiate a government," he said on ARD.
Regarding a possible red-green coalition, Kühnert said: »It is no secret that this is a coalition that we in the SPD also like very much.
And if there is an opportunity for that, then, as always in a democracy, it will be decided who can gather a majority in the state parliament and negotiations should then also take place.«
SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil also interpreted the election result as an order for the Social Democrats.
"The majority of people in North Rhine-Westphalia want a red-green state government," he says in the SPD headquarters.
The CDU had become the strongest force.
»But once again: It is not possible to say at this point in time what a future government in North Rhine-Westphalia will look like.«.
In the end, the CDU mobilized voters at the expense of the FDP.
Kühnert and Klingbeil get headwind from the Union, but also from their own ranks.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he now expects talks about a new state government between the CDU and the Greens.
"First, the parties that won the election must hold talks," says the SPD politician on ARD.
"I think it's presumptuous and inappropriate for us to speculate about where else we're going," he added.
"We lost this election, the Union and the Greens won, they have to conduct the talks first - everything else comes afterwards."
Union faction Vice Jens Spahn also expressed criticism of the efforts of the SPD leadership.
The CDU and the Greens are clear winners of the state elections.
The SPD, on the other hand, had a historically bad result, said Spahn on ARD.
“I think that will be the starting point for the talks in the next few days.” Anyone who makes government claims with such a result “cannot be helped,” said Spahn in the direction of the SPD.
With a view to the strong performance of his party, Spahn said: "The result is better than expected."
The Greens Federal Chairwoman Ricarda Lang already outlined the first points for the case of a government participation.
It is about a climate-friendly and social course.
With whom a government is formed in the end depends, for example, on who can pave the way to a climate-neutral and digital future, she says on ZDF.
Affordable rents are also important.
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous federal state, the state elections are considered small federal elections and an important signal for the federal government.
This has now become clear in the reactions.
Söder speaks of a slap in the face for the traffic light coalition in the federal government
CSU party leader Markus Söder sees the CDU's election victory in North Rhine-Westphalia as a slap in the face for the traffic light coalition in the federal government.
"What a terrific result," he tweeted.
»The result is also a reminder for the traffic light.«
CDU federal leader Friedrich Merz described the state election as a federal political mood test.
"The CDU is back," said Merz, speaking of an "outstanding result" for Prime Minister Wüst's state party.
According to projections, the FDP, which has previously ruled with the CDU, has made it into the state parliament, but has suffered massive losses.
"It is perfectly clear that we cannot go back to business as usual here," said FDP top candidate Joachim Stamp.
Stamp said the party will not find fault with others, but with itself.
As in 2017, the left missed your entry into the state parliament.
Federal chair Janine Wissler described the performance as a "bitter result".
As in the elections in Saarland in March and in Schleswig-Holstein last Sunday, the party experienced a disaster.
asc/dpa/Reuters
