Election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: SPD clearly wins state election

The SPD is the clear winner in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. According to the preliminary result, the party comes to 39.6 percent. The previous coalition partner, the CDU, has to accept heavy losses. The Greens and the FDP succeed in re-entering the state parliament.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig’s SPD won the state elections. After counting all 2003 electoral districts, the party comes to 39.6 percent and is thus once again significantly expanding its position as the strongest force in the state parliament.

According to the preliminary results, the AfD was again the second strongest force with 16.7 percent, but suffered losses compared to the 2016 election. The CDU with its top candidate Michael Sack slipped to 13.3 percent and achieved by far the worst result in a state election in the state since 1990. The left got 9.9 percent. According to the preliminary result, the Greens were at 6.3 percent, the FDP came in at 5.8 percent. Both succeed in re-entering the state parliament – five years ago they failed because of the five percent hurdle. The turnout was 70.8 percent, significantly higher than in the previous election. At that time it was 61.6 percent.

Of the 36 constituencies in the country, 34 went directly to the SPD, while the CDU and AfD were each able to book a direct mandate for themselves. In the new Schwerin state parliament there are 34 seats for the SPD, 14 for the AfD and twelve for the CDU. The Left will have nine MPs, the Greens and FDP five each.

Enormous gains for the SPD, heavy losses for the CDU

The SPD increased by a total of around nine percentage points (2016: 30.6 percent). At the same time, the second and third placed parties, AfD and CDU, lost 20.8 percent and 19 percent respectively in 2016. As a result, the SPD increased the gap to the AfD in second place from around ten to more than 20 percentage points.

In initial reactions on election evening, Schwesig left all coalition options open. The citizens of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had “clearly entrusted the SPD and me with forming a government”. Her goal is a “stable government,” she said. Her party’s committees would discuss on Monday evening who should be probed with. For the SPD, in addition to stability and reliability, it is also crucial with whom it can advance its issues.

Schwesig: “Wonderful evening”

In the ARD election broadcast Schwesig said she wanted to remain Prime Minister. She spoke of a “clear vote” for her party. When asked whether she wanted to stay in Schwerin for the entire legislative period, she replied: “Yes, I have presented myself as Prime Minister and I am happy about this strong citizen vote. And my goal is to form a strong government and continue as Prime Minister of this country respectively.”

After the first forecasts became known, the politician had already spoken of a “wonderful evening for our country, for our SPD in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”. In Schwerin she thanked “the people in our country”. She often felt the support of the citizens, in the corona pandemic and when she was diagnosed with cancer herself.

CDU speaks of “catastrophe”

CDU top candidate Michael Sack, on the other hand, described the outcome of the election as “catastrophic” for his party. How to proceed will be clarified on Monday evening at a meeting of the state executive, he said. Although the citizens of the state government had issued a “good certificate”, the CDU could not benefit from it. CDU General Secretary Wolfgang Waldmüller also described the result as “a catastrophe”. The 2016 result was historically bad for the CDU.

AfD top candidate Nikolaus Kramer regretted that his party missed the 2016 result. He was nevertheless satisfied: “We have remained the strongest opposition force and thus also the only opposition in the state parliament,” he said.

The Left Party saw the result more calmly. Top candidate Simone Oldenburg said that with such an overpowering SPD, it was clear that all other parties would get under the wheels. She did not want to comment on possible coalition options. However, she assumed that the voters in the northeast had voted out of the CDU and would like a shift to the left.

Greens and FDP satisfied

The Greens were satisfied with the forecast figures. “Entering the state parliament was our most important goal,” said state chairman Ole Krüger. “It looks like we have achieved that – and that is extremely pleasing.” Seven percent is a strong result for a committed election campaign. “We’ll stay on the ground for now and see how the projections develop over the course of the evening.” The Greens are very confident that the results will level up above the five percent hurdle.

For the FDP, the prognoses were cause for celebration. “What a wonderful evening”, their top candidate René Domke called out to his supporters. He emphasized the great importance of economic issues for voters. “I do think that after the pandemic, people actually want answers about how the economy should go on,” he said.

First state election as top candidate

A coalition of the SPD and CDU has ruled Schwerin since 2016, and according to the result, it would again have a comfortable majority. An alliance between the SPD and the Left, which already existed in the state in the past, would have a slim majority. A coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP would also be conceivable.

For Schwesig, who took over government business in 2017 in the current electoral term from her predecessor Erwin Sellering, it was the first state election as a top candidate. The northeast SPD had tailored the election campaign entirely to the Prime Minister, who resigned as Federal Family Minister in 2017 in order to take over the office of Prime Minister in her home country prematurely. There she was able to build on the high popularity ratings of her predecessor and sponsor Sellering.

With the undisputed election victory, the SPD state chairman should have further consolidated her leadership position in the state party and secured options for a return to the leadership ranks of the federal party. In 2019, she withdrew from the then interim management trio due to cancer. According to her own statements, she has now overcome the disease.