Status: 10/09/2022 7:29 p.m
The most recent projection for the state elections in Lower Saxony sees the SPD as the strongest force. The FDP is on the brink – and the CDU is already drawing personal consequences.
According to the extrapolation by infratest dimap, the SPD won 33 percent of the votes. That is a decrease of 3.9 percentage points compared to 2017. The CDU, previously government partner in the grand coalition, is in second place with 28.2 percent (minus 5.4 percentage points). The Greens come to 14.3 percent (plus 5.6), the AfD to 11.5 (plus 5.3). As expected, the FDP has to tremble, but still gets exactly 5 percent (minus 2.5) and can hope to defend its place in the state parliament. The left missed out on entering the state parliament: According to the forecast, they only received 2.6 percent of the votes (minus 2.0). 5.4 percent unite other parties.
Because sees government order – Althusmann retires
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister and SPD top candidate Stephan Weil saw the result as a clear election victory for his party. “We have the strongest parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony state parliament. The voters gave the SPD the government mandate and no one else.” Meanwhile, there is great disappointment among the Christian Democrats – and there are already personal consequences. Bernd Althusmann, who wanted to inherit Weil as Prime Minister, has announced his resignation as CDU state leader in Lower Saxony.
Numerous CDU voters have migrated
The CDU lost many voters compared to the 2017 state election. According to infratest dimap, 25,000 former CDU voters have migrated to the SPD. Even more, namely 40,000, switched to the Greens. And 70,000 voters who checked the CDU in 2017 did not vote at all this time.
According to the opinion research institute, the SPD lost 50,000 voters to the Greens and to non-voters. 30,000 former SPD voters voted for the AfD this time.
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Allocation of seats in Parliament
According to the projection from 7:16 p.m., the SPD would have 49 seats in the Lower Saxony state parliament, the CDU 41, the Greens 21. The AfD would have only slightly fewer seats with 17. The FDP would have 7 seats. This distribution applies in the event that the FDP makes it into the state parliament. For an absolute majority, 68 seats are needed in the Lower Saxony state parliament.
Voter turnout has fallen
Almost 6.1 million Lower Saxony were called to vote – that is almost 76 percent of all residents of the state. Among those entitled to vote were around 215,000 young voters who were allowed to vote in a state election for the first time. According to preliminary information, turnout was 60.8 percent. In the 2017 state election, it was 63.1 percent. The proportion of postal voters, on the other hand, has risen sharply: from 19.9 percent in 2017 to 28.5 percent now.
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More information on the state elections in Lower Saxony
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