The people in Bavaria have a lot more choice in the federal election than four years ago. A total of 967 candidates will appear on state lists and as constituency candidates on September 26, as state returning officer Thomas Gößl announced on Thursday. This corresponds to an increase of almost 42 percent.
Women are still in the minority: They make up just over 29 percent of the candidates. However, the proportion is increasing: in the 2017 election it was only a little over 25 percent. The Animal Welfare Party has the highest proportion of women among the candidates at around 61 percent. The Greens come to a good 55 percent. At the AfD, on the other hand, only just under nine percent of the candidates are women.
On average, the candidates are 45 years old. The youngest party is Die Urbane (You) at 35 years of age. The highest average age at the MLPD is 62 years. And there is also a huge range of individual candidates: the youngest was born in 2003 and runs for Die Party, the oldest was born in 1933 and is a candidate on the list of the Animal Welfare Party.
One reason for the increase in the number of candidates is likely to be the growth in the state lists. In 2017 there were 21, now there are 26. The CSU sends most of the candidates into the race. On the state list and in the constituencies there are a total of 115. This is followed by Die Basis at 83 and The Party at 82. According to figures from the Land Returning Officer, there are 108 MPs from Bavaria in the current Bundestag as of March.
Meanwhile, according to a new poll, the SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz is currently also ahead in Bavaria. If the Federal Chancellor were to be elected directly, Scholz would get 39 percent according to the latest voter check on the program “17:30 Sat.1 Bayern” – clearly ahead of Armin Laschet (CDU) with 21 percent and the Green applicant Annalena Baerbock with 13 Percent. With the parties, the CSU would be further ahead in the so-called Sunday question, but with 29 percent (+1) it would again not come over 30 percent. In the recent voter check, which was published on September 14, the CSU was 28 percent. 17 percent (-1) would vote for the SPD, 16 percent for the Greens (-2). The FDP would vote 13 percent (+1) of the voters, the AfD unchanged eleven percent. The free voters lose one point and come to five percent.