Since morning, the Hessians have been able to decide on the composition of their new parliament. Now there is the first forecast.
The CDU was by far the strongest force in the state elections in Hesse. According to initial projections from ARD and ZDF, Prime Minister Boris Rhein’s Christian Democrats are well ahead of their coalition partners the Greens, the SPD and the AfD, who are in a tight race for second place – with a slight lead for the AfD. The FDP’s return to the state parliament is in jeopardy. The left is unlikely to achieve it.
According to the projections, the CDU will increase significantly to 34.7 to 35.4 percent (2018 election: 27.0). The SPD, with Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser as the top candidate, is heading for a historically poor national result with 15.2 to 15.9 percent (19.8). The Greens, who co-govern, also lose and end up with 15.4 to 15.5 percent (19.8).
The AfD gains significantly and reaches 16.3 to 16.8 percent (13.1). According to these initial figures, the FDP only barely clears the five percent hurdle at 5.0 percent (7.5), and its entry into the state parliament is uncertain. The Left slips to 3.5 percent (6.3). She will probably have to leave parliament in Wiesbaden. The Free Voters came to 3.5 percent (3.0). Voter turnout is reported to be 64.5 to 65.5 – less than 67.3 percent in 2018.
The CDU will therefore receive 44 to 53 seats in the state parliament. The SPD got 20 to 23 seats, the Greens got 19 to 23 seats. The AfD gets 21 to 25 seats, the FDP 6 to 8. This would make it possible for the black-green coalition to continue. But a grand coalition of CDU and SPD would also have a majority.
Rhine: CDU has a “clear government mandate” in Hesse
After the state elections in Hesse, CDU Prime Minister Boris Rhein sees a “clear government mandate” from the citizens for the Union. The voters chose the Hesse CDU and thus “style and stability, but also gentle renewal,” he said in Wiesbaden. “We have the government mandate and we will of course accept this government mandate,” emphasized Rhein. “We will form a government from the center of this society, from the center of the country.” That is completely clear.
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann is also very satisfied with the performance of the CDU and CSU in the state elections in Hesse. Linnemann described the CDU’s performance in Hesse as a “sensational result”. Boris Rhein is a great top candidate who has addressed exactly the right issues. CDU leader Friedrich Merz supported him. The election campaign in Hesse also serves as a role model for the federal election campaign.
Kühnert: Bitter evening for the SPD
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert sees the results of the state elections as bitter for his party and for the traffic light coalition. “We are expressly not the election winners this evening,” said Kühnert on ZDF. The three parties in the traffic light coalition would have lost in both federal states.
“We should all recognize the signals together in the traffic light coalition: There is also a message for us in this election result,” said Kühnert. He said on ARD that one must recognize that “the general mood is weighing on people’s minds and that more orientation is needed.”
The SPD General Secretary also supported the Hessian SPD top candidate and Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. Her authority as federal minister has not been damaged, he said. “I can also speak for the entire party leadership.”
The Hessian SPD top candidate Nancy Faeser is also very disappointed by her party’s losses in the state elections. “We had a lot of headwind, we saw it in the polls. That’s why it’s not that surprising, but still very disappointing,” said Faeser, who is also Federal Minister of the Interior, referring to her party’s weak result.
Unfortunately, the SPD did not get through to its issues at all, said Faeser. Of course, she has a special role as the top candidate. “Unfortunately I couldn’t help you with this these days,” she told party members.
Al-Wazir sees the Green election result as a success despite losses
The Hessian Green Party’s leading candidate Tarek Al-Wazir sees his party’s result in the state elections as a success despite losses. “We will achieve our second-best result in history. And that is also a success,” he said.
“All parties involved in the federal government had no tailwind. And we had to fight uphill,” Al-Wazir told party members. “Of course we would have liked a better result, but if you look at the projections, that’s just how it is.”
The Green Party leader Omid Nouripour describes his party’s election results in the state elections as stable. The Greens hoped to become the second strongest force in both elections, Nouripour said on ARD. The Greens stand for responsibility. According to forecasts, his party has lost.
He described the performance of the AfD, which has made gains in both countries, as “shocking”. This is also a task for the traffic light coalition to regain trust.
Despite the Greens’ losses, federal chairwoman Ricarda Lang speaks of stable results. “These are stable results, even if they are not what we might have wanted,” said Lang on ZDF after the first forecasts. This is a good basis for the future. It is with concern that all three traffic light parties, i.e. SPD, Greens and FDP, were unable to make gains.
Hesse’s AfD leading candidate announces strong opposition
The top candidate of the Hessian AfD, Robert Lambrou, announces that his party will work strongly in the opposition in the state parliament. A lot of citizens in Hesse voted AfD for the first time, he said. “It is an enormous leap of faith that we will prove ourselves worthy of.” He is looking forward to the next five years in the state parliament “with a very strong, bourgeois, conservative, liberal voice.”
AfD leader Alice Weidel is delighted with her party’s performance. Weidel spoke on ARD about record results.
“Our politics proves us right,” said Weidel. She also viewed the strength of her party as a sign of people’s dissatisfaction with the federal government’s “ban policy”. With regard to the federal government, she spoke of a realistic chance of participating in government in 2025.
Stark-Watzinger: Government action has an impact
The Hessian FDP chairwoman Bettina Stark-Watzinger also attributes the state election results to the politics of the traffic light coalition in the federal government. “We can of course see that the government’s actions from Berlin are also having an impact on the state elections,” said Stark-Watzinger, who is also Federal Minister of Education. “All three coalition parties have suffered losses here in Hesse.”
The FDP politician emphasized: “We ran the election campaign at a time when the issue of migration really came into the election campaign with full force.” This has made the political fringes a little stronger.
The citizens’ expectations of the federal government were not met. In the next few weeks, the right answers must now be found to the issues that concern people in order to strengthen trust in the government’s actions in Berlin.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai reacts briefly to his party’s poor performance. “From the FDP’s point of view, the currently available figures from Bavaria are disappointing. Things remain exciting in Hesse,” he said in Berlin.
The FDP committees would evaluate the results of both state elections tomorrow, said Djir-Sarai. “We will also analyze and discuss these results within the coalition.”
Wagenknecht: Faeser dismissed as minister after Hesse election
After the Hesse election, left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht is calling for the dismissal of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. The background is the weak performance of the Hessian SPD with Faeser as the top candidate. “Anyone who fails in Wiesbaden is out of place in Berlin,” Wagenknecht told the German Press Agency. “The voters’ red card should be followed by dismissal by the Chancellor.”
The Interior Ministry is one of the most important ministries and “the refugee crisis is at least as dramatic as in 2015,” said Wagenknecht. “We don’t need an election loser at the top, but rather maximum ability to act.” She accused Faeser of “letting the smuggling industry do its thing.” The federal government should take a cue from countries like Denmark and minimize the influx, said Wagenknecht.
Three top candidates with leadership aspirations
Hesse has been governed by the CDU for almost 25 years, and together with the Greens for almost ten years – mostly quite harmoniously. The coalition currently has a majority of just one mandate. While CDU Prime Minister Rhein (51) wanted to defend his office, Rhein’s deputy and Green Party top candidate Tarek Al-Wazir (52) aimed to become the second Prime Minister of his party – after Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Württemberg. The aim of SPD top candidate and Federal Interior Minister Faeser (53) was to become the first woman to head the Hessian state government.
Before the election, Faeser made it clear that she would only return from Berlin to state politics if she became Prime Minister. The defeat of the Social Democrats now makes this highly unlikely. Faeser could now also be counted on as Federal Minister of the Interior.
Almost ten years of black-green – what’s next?
After its gains in the Hessian state elections, the CDU wants to offer exploratory talks to “all democratic factions”. This is what the CDU parliamentary group leader in the Hesse state parliament, Ines Claus, said. According to the forecasts, the CDU significantly increased its result in the state elections compared to 2018.
Claus said there were “an outstanding result for the CDU in Hesse”. “It’s a great evening for us, it’s something very special.” Her party ran an election campaign “that was always decent in terms of sound and style,” said the CDU politician. This is a great result for Prime Minister Boris Rhein.