Status: 05/14/2023 8:20 p.m
In the local elections in Schleswig-Holstein, the polling stations have been closed since 6 p.m. The vote count is in progress. About 2.4 million people were called to vote. According to a first projection, the CDU is ahead of the SPD and the Greens. AfD and SSW gain significantly in votes.
According to an initial projection by infratest dimap, the CDU is also ahead in this year’s local elections: the party has a national average of 34.5 percent – that’s 0.6 percentage points less than in the previous election five years ago. The SPD is currently in second place with 19.1 percent, but the Social Democrats are down 4.2 percent compared to 2018. The Greens come to 16.8 percent in the first extrapolation. The AfD has increased significantly, gaining 3 percentage points and is now at 8.5 percent. Behind is the FDP with currently 6.6 percent. The SSW can also look forward to a significant gain in votes and is currently at 4.5 percent. According to the extrapolation, the left comes to 2.1 percent, other parties and groups of voters have a total of 7.9 percent.
Cheers to the SSW
The joy was particularly great after the first counts at the SSW. The state chairman Christian Dirschauer considered more than 3 percent statewide and 20 percent in Flensburg to be realistic – after the first extrapolation it looks like an even better result. In Flensburg, where all the votes have already been counted, the party is the strongest with 24.8 percent. Christian Dirschauer won his constituency with 27.4 percent, beating the CDU for the first time.
Voter turnout at around 43 percent
The turnout is almost at the level of the previous local election in 2018. One hour before the polling stations closed, 42.9 percent of those eligible to vote had cast their votes by 5 p.m. According to state returning officer Tilo von Riegen, this is 0.6 percentage points less than five years ago.
13,000 mandates for municipal and district councils
In total, more than 1,000 district municipalities, four district-free cities and eleven districts voted today. 13,000 mandates for municipal and district councils are to be awarded. The number of candidates standing in the district and municipal elections in the urban districts has increased further compared to 2018 – to a good 3,900. Only one party or group of voters stood in 334 municipalities.
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CDU wants to stay in first place nationwide
Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) cast his vote for the district council and the council meeting in Eckernförde in the afternoon. Just like five years ago, the CDU wants to take first place nationwide, when the party achieved 35.1 percent. A survey from the end of April saw the CDU with 38 percent ahead of the Greens with 17 and the SPD with 15 percent.
SPD expects successes in Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg
SPD state chairman Serpil Midyatli voted in Kiel late in the morning. SPD state manager Götz Borchert spoke on election day of a positive mood towards the SPD in the doorstep election campaign. The question is whether you could mobilize enough citizens who are positive about the SPD. Borchert expects different results across the country and successes in Kiel, Lübeck and Eckernförde in particular.
Greens want second place
In 2018, the SPD came in second nationwide with 23.3 percent. The Greens want to challenge them for this position this year, as the Greens state chairman Gazi explained on Friday. At the election party of the district association in Kiel, however, the Greens were also skeptical in view of the general trend, the race for second place could be close. The FDP wants to improve its result from 2018, when the party was 6.7 percent.
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