Schleswig Holstein
State elections: parties are campaigning for votes in the north
CDU top candidate Daniel Günther is hoping for an election victory on Sunday. Photo: Christian Charisius/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Certain of victory, others between fear and hope – shortly before the state elections in the north, the parties again wooed voters. There was agreement on one issue in particular.
At the end of the election campaign in Schleswig-Holstein, the parties once again campaigned for votes throughout the state. Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), SPD top candidate Thomas Losse-Müller and the front woman of the Greens, Finance Minister Monika Heinold, mainly focused on street election campaigns.
Among other things, Günther was out and about in his home town of Eckernförde and in Gettorf. Losse-Müller was already promoting himself and his party on Saturday morning when distributing flyers in Eckernförde. In the constituency there, he and Günther also compete against each other as direct candidates.
Günther has governed since 2017 with a Jamaica coalition of CDU, Greens and FDP. The most recent polls saw his CDU clearly ahead with 36 to 38 percent. The SPD ranked at 18 to 20, the Greens at 16 to 18 percent. It was followed by the FDP with 7 to 9 percent and the South Schleswig Voters’ Association SSW and the AfD with 5 to 6 percent each. The left, which has not been represented in the state parliament since 2012, was well below the five percent hurdle in the polls.
This means that a majority for a coalition of the CDU and the Greens seems possible. An alliance between the CDU and the FDP would be closer, but conceivable. A coalition led by the SPD or the Greens seems unlikely.
Last fight for votes
“With the best mood at the campaign stands, we took every opportunity to advertise our course,” said Günther on Saturday. Anyone who wants the country to continue on the successful course must vote for the CDU. SPD top candidate Losse-Müller summed it up: “In the past few weeks, the major issues have overshadowed the state election campaign. But now you can see that the full focus is on the important directional decision for Schleswig-Holstein.” Thousands of social democrats took to the streets across the country on Saturday. You fight for every vote. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil had already campaigned for Losse-Müller at a rally in Kiel on Friday.
FDP candidate Bernd Buchholz received support from Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner during the final sprint on Saturday in Kiel and Lübeck. He urged people to take part in the state elections. “Millions of people around the world want one thing, dream of one thing: to be able to vote once in a free, equal and secret election – peacefully, in freedom – which way their society chooses in the future.” According to the FDP, around 300 people came to the final rally on the Rathausmarkt.
A turnout of around 64 percent should not be allowed again, said the FDP leader. Before the events in the world – Lindner named the Ukraine war and the suppression of the opposition in Russia – the right to vote this year is more of a moral obligation to vote.
Election campaign overshadowed by war
From Buchholz’s point of view, the election campaign was somewhat overshadowed by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. In comparison, the debated problems are very small. “Sometimes you feel small and insignificant when you talk about educational policy, economic policy, about other things,” he said in Kiel. What the country needs most at the moment is peace in Europe.
The Green top candidate Heinold also took stock of the election campaign: “We have intensive weeks overshadowed by the war behind us. Nevertheless, we advertised our topics with a lot of passion: climate protection, social justice and modern social policy.» The green campaign reached its climax on Friday, when Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck appeared in Neumünster. Habeck, who was a minister in Schleswig-Holstein for a long time, praised the political culture in the country as a credit to his party.
The South Schleswig Voters’ Association (SSW), the AfD and the left campaigned for votes again on Saturday. On Sunday around 2.3 million Schleswig-Holsteiners are called upon to elect a new state parliament. Around 127,000 of them are first-time voters. Polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.