Political expert Münch on the consequences of the NRW election: "It's going to be even more exhausting for Scholz"

Created: 05/17/2022, 07:37

By: Carina Zimniok

The beaming winner: Hendrik Wüst (right) led the CDU to victory in North Rhine-Westphalia.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

After the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the signs are black and green.

Political expert Münch explains how the election result affects the traffic lights in the federal government.

The chancellor was ballast for the SPD in NRW instead of a booster – how weak is Olaf Scholz?

The result is not good for him.

The juxtaposition with the greens makes light and shadow even clearer: the light from Baerbock and Habeck affects Scholz like shadows.

Much of what Scholz says about Ukraine is well received by the population.

But he is constantly given the attribute of being hesitant.

People don't want that.

Is the success of the Greens in NRW solely due to Baerbock and Habeck?

The way the two communicate is extremely well received.

Here, too, the following applies: what is missing from the chancellor is what the Greens are currently doing.

But you also have to say that it is primarily a national result.

Apparently, the top candidate Mona Neubaur not only received tailwind, but also worked herself. In North Rhine-Westphalia, many were dissatisfied with the energy and coal policy, but also with the school policy of the CDU and FDP.

And the Greens managed a strong mobilization: in absolute results, only the Greens gained much.

After the state elections in NRW: 2017 was the slip for the FDP - a threat to the traffic light?

The FDP is threatened with dwarfing.

Is government responsibility not good for the liberals?

You have to classify it as bigger.

In the 2017 state election, the FDP in North Rhine-Westphalia had a very good result because of the top candidate Lindner.

That was the slip - and not the election on Sunday.

Nevertheless, the result is not very good.

The FDP is incredibly annoyed that the coalition partner in the federal government has done much better.

There is some rivalry for the voters.

The FDP will become louder.

Does that blow the traffic light?

I don't see the traffic light as an acute threat.

But the FDP will get louder, that's true.

She will see that the core voters are angered by the abandonment of the consolidation course.

But she won't be any more credible if she were to say now that we changed our minds about the extra 100 billion for the Bundeswehr.

We remember: Before the Ukraine crisis, the FDP was more in the foreground.

It was thought that the Greens had the wrong ministries to make their mark.

That only changed after the war.

Scholz will have trouble reconciling the partners.

The day-to-day business of governing becomes more strenuous when, in the midst of a global security and energy crisis, one has to turn to offended vanities.

He doesn't really have time for that, but he'll have to take it.

However, the FDP will not turn the wheel completely.

State elections in NRW: black-green alliance also a model for the federal government?

Black and green will probably come in NRW, but a traffic light would be possible.

Would that be clever looking at the traffic light in the Bund?

From the point of view of the Greens, there is much to be said for a coalition with the CDU.

You can ask a lot of them – in terms of content, but also more ministries.

I don't have the impression that the SPD will be embarrassed by a traffic light.

Black and green - is that the template for the next federal government?

It's way too early to tell.

After the Bundestag elections, the SPD proclaimed the “decade of social democracy”.

Of course we don't see that.

But neither did the decade of the Greens.

I would rather say: We live in the decade of swing voters.

Interview: Carina Zimniok