In addition to the European elections, local elections were also held in eight federal states. Although the final results have not yet been announced, one thing is already clear: In the East, the AfD has managed to jump to the top several times.
In the local elections in eight federal states, a clear winner is emerging in the eastern states: the AfD is the strongest force in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg, but lost in run-off elections in Thuringia. The counting for local parliaments is much more complicated due to the possibility of distributing multiple votes and can drag on for several days.
Like the European elections, the local elections are seen as a mood test for the parties – especially in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, where state elections will take place in the autumn.
New mayor in Erfurt
The AfD came away empty-handed in the runoff elections for district administrator positions in Thuringia. In none of the nine districts in which AfD candidates reached the second round of voting did they manage to win.
Erfurt’s long-time SPD mayor Andreas Bausewein has to vacate his office in the town hall after 18 years. The 51-year-old lost the runoff election for the mayoral office of Thuringia’s state capital on Sunday against his CDU challenger Andreas Horn, who received 64.2 percent of the vote. Bausewein, who was already behind Horn in the first round of voting at the end of May, received 35.8 percent of the vote, according to data from the state election officer.
In the vote for the district office in the southern Thuringian district of Hildburgshausen, the right-wing extremist Tommy Frenck was defeated in the runoff election. He received 30.5 percent of the votes from a total of 127 voting districts. His competitor Sven Gregor from the Free Voters was clearly ahead with 69.5 percent.
Most votes for AfD in Saxony-Anhalt
In the district and city council elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD received 28.1 percent of all votes after 2,590 of the 2,594 electoral districts had been counted. The CDU followed with 26.7 percent. According to the Saxony-Anhalt State Statistical Office, the AfD was thus able to gain 11.6 percentage points compared to the local elections in 2019. Five years ago, 16.4 percent of voters voted for the party. At that time, the CDU was clearly the strongest force with 24.6 percent of all votes.
All of the traffic light parties have suffered losses compared to the local elections five years ago. According to the preliminary count, the SPD lost 1.8 percentage points and reached 11.9 percent. The Greens only received 4.5 percent of the vote – a loss of 3.9 percentage points – and the FDP also lost 2.5 percentage points to 3.4 percent.
Other parties in Saxony have no chance
In Saxony, the AfD leaves all other parties far behind: the party received 31.8 percent, an increase of 6.5 percentage points and is ten percentage points ahead of the CDU with 21.8 percent (-1.2 percentage points). The third strongest force in Saxony is the Sahra Wagenknecht coalition, which is running for the first time and is able to secure 12.6 percent of the vote.
The traffic light coalition partners SPD and Greens follow with 6.9 percent and 5.9 percent respectively. For both parties, the local election means dwindling voter support. The Social Democrats are 1.7 percentage points below their 2019 result, while the Greens are 4.4 percentage points lower. The Left Party is also losing votes significantly, with 4.9 percent, 6.8 percentage points less than five years ago.
AfD also becomes the strongest force in Brandenburg
In Brandenburg, the preliminary results of the counts are already available for all 4,050 electoral districts. Here, too, the AfD secured by far the most votes. It currently has 25.7 percent – a significant increase of 9.8 percentage points compared to the 2019 local elections.
The other parties follow a long way behind: The Christian Democrats come in second with 19.3 percent, improving slightly by one percentage point compared to 2019. The SPD is the third strongest force with 16.6 percent. The result means a slight loss of 1.1 percentage points for the Social Democrats.
The Left Party suffered more severe losses. It received 7.8 percent of the vote, losing 6.3 percentage points. The Greens landed at 6.7 percent (-4.4 percentage points) and the FDP performed 1.7 percentage points worse than in 2019. The Liberals only received 3.2 percent of all votes cast.
Severe losses for the Left Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD achieved a similarly good result as in Brandenburg. After counting all 1,978 electoral districts, it is at 25.6 percent. Five years ago, the AfD landed behind the CDU, Left Party and SPD with 14 percent.
Now the AfD has made the leap to the top, followed by the CDU with 24 percent (-1.4 percentage points). Despite losses of 2.7 percentage points, the SPD is the third strongest force with 12.7 percent. The Left Party has to cope with the biggest loss: it has plummeted from 16.3 percent of the vote in 2019 to just 8.8 percent. The Greens have also lost massively – their score has deteriorated by 4.8 percentage points to 5.5 percent.
Losses for the Greens in Baden-Württemberg’s largest cities
In the local council elections in Baden-Württemberg, the Greens have to SWRAccording to the forecast, losses are expected in the country’s three largest cities. However, they will not be as severe in Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Mannheim as in the European elections.
According to forecasts, the CDU can become the strongest force in Stuttgart and Mannheim, while in Karlsruhe the Greens are expected to hold this position despite losses.
CDU ahead in Saarland, gains for AfD
Elections were also held in Saarland. The CDU secured a majority in many municipalities. According to the preliminary election results, it received 35.3 percent of all votes. The second strongest party was the SPD with 31.1 percent, and the AfD came in third with 8.9 percent. While the CDU and SPD achieved an almost identical result compared to the last local election, the AfD secured the largest gains of four percentage points compared to the other parties.
The Greens, on the other hand, lost 4.6 percentage points and only received 6.5 percent of the vote. The FDP performed similarly to 2019 with 3.7 percent, while the Left Party slipped to 3.4 percent (-3.1 percentage points).
In total, around 22.5 million citizens in Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were called upon to cast their votes for the future composition of local parliaments, district offices or town halls.
In the city state of Hamburg, the mandates for the district assemblies were voted on. The counting of the votes will take place during the course of Monday. In Rhineland-Palatinate, a large part of the counting is also still ongoing.