Election in NRW: It will definitely be a problem – politics

Hendrik Wüst or Thomas Kutschaty – who will win the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday? The incumbent CDU Prime Minister Wüst and his challenger from the SPD have been in a head-to-head race for weeks. The latest polls currently see the CDU at 32 percent and the SPD at 29 percent.

Nevertheless, the only direct TV duel between the two on Thursday evening on WDR turned into a harmonious chat among state politicians. Duet instead of duel – this is how the 75 minutes can be summarized. They didn’t even bother to speak, sometimes both just rattled off facts and figures for minutes. There was no winner, it was a clear draw.

Because of the intimate unity between the two opponents, other questions arose: Why was Thomas Kuchaty standing on a gray wooden pedestal? And in what a strange setting had the WDR brought him and the CDU incumbent Hendrik Wüst? Was that a tomb? A ruined castle? A wine cellar?

Wüst and Kuchaty agreed that more had to be done against organized crime and right-wing extremism in North Rhine-Westphalia. They agreed that all teachers from primary school to high school deserve the same pay. Both want to relieve nursing staff, build more apartments, better hospital care and a climate-neutral conversion of industry.

The differences blur

In the guessing game “Where is it written?” Kutschaty and Wüst were supposed to match sentences from their party programs, which unfortunately also did little to work out differences. Wüst lands more hits than Kuchaty, but overall the impression remains that both are not text-safe. Perhaps because the programs of the CDU and SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia are simply too similar?

So the differences blurred. Even the difference in height between the candidates – Wüst measures 1.91 meters, Kuchaty 1.70 meters – was blurred by WDR, albeit only halfway cleverly. The broadcaster had provided this small pedestal for Kuchaty. Depending on the camera perspective, it looked pretty unfortunate.

And then the WDR also chose the “Grotte” hall in Solingen as the venue for the exchange of blows. The event location Alte Schlossfabrik praises the column vault for its “historical and rustic ambience”. People usually get married here. According to the surveys, many options are conceivable in NRW after May 15: black-green, red-green, Jamaica, traffic lights – yes, and that is the central finding from the TV duel, why not a groko right away?

According to the trends, however, the Greens will almost certainly decide who moves into the state chancellery. Their top candidate Mona Neubaur plays the role of kingmaker. Pollsters consider 18 percent possible, so the Greens would be the third strongest party in NRW.

The Greens send Habeck to NRW, the CDU Daniel Günther

Because the result of the most important election of this year will also leave its mark on the federal level, prominent federal politicians traveled to the Rhine on Friday.

Olaf Scholz went for victory in Cologne early on Friday evening – and tied his own reputation as Chancellor to the result of his comrades in the state elections. For minutes, Scholz recalled reforms that he himself had promised eight years ago in the federal election campaign: minimum wage, new apartments, more respect. Kuschaty, the SPD’s top candidate, doesn’t appear for a long time – until Scholz makes everything dependent on him. “One thing is very clear to me: If all this is to succeed, then we need two things,” he called out to around 1,500 SPD supporters at Cologne Cathedral, “NRW that works tomorrow, and the right prime minister – Thomas Kutschaty!”

At the beginning of his 23-minute speech, Scholz also referred to his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the morning: “There is one thing that has not yet been understood,” said Scholz: The war can only end “if there is a peace agreement that does not is dictated peace.” Germany will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side: “We also do this by supplying weapons,” said Scholz, “we will continue to do so.”

The Greens are sending Robert Habeck onto the stage in Düsseldorf and Cologne. At the first appearance of the Economics Minister, a troublemaker stuck to the stage, he wanted to know from Habeck why he wanted to drill for oil in the North Sea. The CDU is holding its final rally on a company site in Münsterland – Daniel Günther, who won the state election in Schleswig-Holstein a week ago for the CDU with 43.4 percent, is also taking part.

For undecided voters, the NRW election compass of the University of Münster decision-making aid. Based on 30 theses, everyone should recognize how close or far their own positions are to the programmatic offers of the parties. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the positions of the SPD and the Greens on the one hand and the CDU and FDP on the other are more divergent in state politics than they were before the federal elections last September.

The SZ already has the first interim results on voter preferences. In the most likely case, according to the latest polls, that the CDU and the Greens form a government, explosives are lurking in coalition negotiations, for example on issues of electoral law. More than two-thirds of the users (78 percent) who came out as supporters of the Greens in the survey call for the voting age to be lowered to 16 in state elections. The party itself also demands this and even made this reform the cornerstone of its “government program”. The FDP and SPD would also be in favor of it. The CDU, however, wants to stick to the minimum age of 18 – and three out of four CDU supporters see it the same way.

The supporters of the parties gave a less confrontational answer to the question of whether “all people who live here permanently” should have a say in local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in the future. A majority of supporters of all four parties, SPD and Greens even more than 70 percent support a general right to vote for foreigners in the town hall and district council. The parties themselves are further apart: the CDU and FDP are against it, while the SPD and Greens are clearly in favor.