So now, before the final, federal celebrities came to Schleswig-Holstein, which is always worth a trip anyway. The coasts alone, with Amrum or Sylt on the one hand and beaches that are even called Brazil or California on the other. Elections are held on the dams and dykes on Sunday, and the CDU with Prime Minister Daniel Günther is the clear favourite. For the Union, which has recently been depressed nationwide, these are fabulous prospects, but the Chancellor should rush to the SPD’s aid.
Olaf Scholz appeared on Kiel’s Rathausplatz on Friday afternoon to support Thomas Losse-Müller. Lose who? The top candidate of the Social Democrats was at the World Bank, founded the local branch of the Greens in Washington, the SPD as a Green later led the Kiel State Chancellery for a while and only officially changed colors in 2021. Seen in this way, the economist’s career is more colorful than that of Günther, political scientist and homegrown member of the CDU. The problem: unlike the head of government, not everyone knows the man with the double name, even in the north.
Markus Söder must turn green with envy
With Daniel Günther it was somewhat similar five years ago, his party sent him into the race as opposition leader at the time, but also as a substitute. Günther, on the other hand, made himself so well known and popular during the election campaign and later in office that men like Markus Söder have to turn green with envy when they hear about his current values. According to surveys, three quarters of those questioned between the seas are satisfied with Prime Minister Günther and his Jamaican squad.
The support from Berlin is of little help to the outsider from the SPD. Especially since it is not clear whether Scholz will bring votes or cost them. Losse-Müller advertises with rent control, free daycare and environmental technology momentum. But he can be happy if he finishes second. The Wahlen research group sees the SPD and the Greens on an equal footing at 18 percent. According to this survey, the CDU would come to 38 percent, with the FDP it would be eight percent, with the South Silesian Voters’ Association SSW and the AfD six percent, not a trace of the left.
The electorate seems to trust Günther’s slogan “Stay the course”. He apparently calms the population down in difficult times, just like Angela Merkel used to do. Günther didn’t need a star accompaniment. It was also not a problem for him that he had to stay at home for ten days because of a corona infection, in the middle of the election campaign. His last PR positions since then, among others: Nortorf, Laboe, Owschlag, Gettorf, also his place of residence Eckernförde.
CDU and Greens would have a majority
However, his Jamaica has such a clear majority that the CDU and Greens could also govern in the future, without the FDP. Or even the CDU and FDP, possibly reinforced by the Danish-Frisian minority representation SSW, but that is unlikely. A traffic light plus SSW against the CDU is even more unlikely.
In principle, the prospects for the region are not bad, and all applicants are counting on that. Schleswig-Holstein is popular as a holiday area and plays a role in the energy transition with water and wind. However, the conversion could, for example, be more powerful according to the taste of the Greens, living space is also becoming more expensive, Losse-Müller’s SPD gives the social conscience. In view of the war in the Ukraine, the liquefied natural gas terminal in Brunsbüttel should suddenly go quickly. Construction or repair of roads or railways progress less quickly.
Schleswig-Holstein, according to studies the happiest federal state, appears more peaceful to sleepier than it did in the Barschel/Engholm, Simonis/Carstensen or Stegner/Kubicki era. More gentle Baltic Sea than wild North Sea, so to speak. Although: The Lübeck performance by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the Green Finance Minister Monika Heinold had to be canceled recently, the stage smelled acrid. butyric acid.