Status: 10/10/2022 00:37
Red-green is in the air: The SPD clearly won the state elections in Lower Saxony. Lead candidate Weil wants a coalition with the Greens. The FDP fails at the five percent hurdle.
According to the preliminary official result, the SPD got 33.4 percent of the votes. A drop of 3.5 percentage points compared to 2017, but the Social Democrats are the strongest party. The Greens come to 14.5 percent (plus 5.8) – a record for the party. “The voters have given the SPD the government mandate and no one else,” said Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister and SPD top candidate Stephen Weil. “If I have the chance, I would like to form a red-green state government,” said Weil at phoenix. Greens top candidate Julia Willie Hamburg said there was a clear majority for red-green and thus for a stable government in this crisis: “We will do everything we can as Greens to shape Lower Saxony again for the next five years and set it up for the future.”
Research group Wahlen: “Success factor is called Stephan Weil”
According to an analysis by the Wahlen research group, the SPD owes its good election result to the top candidate. “Only 26 percent want Althusmann as head of government, but 55 percent want Weil, who, according to those surveyed, is most likely to lead the country through the uncertain times,” it says. “The number one success factor for the SPD is Stephan Weil.”
CDU with historically bad result
It was a bitter evening for the CDU, previously the government partner in the grand coalition. It comes to 28.1 percent (down 5.5 percentage points), its worst national result in more than 60 years. The CDU lost, said top candidate Bernd Althusmann. “We humbly accept this vote.” The SPD has a clear government mandate. Althusmann, who wanted to inherit Weil as Prime Minister, has announced his resignation as CDU state leader in Lower Saxony. CDU faction leader Dirk Toepffer also wants to give up his post.
AfD two digits – FDP out
The AfD was able to get 10.9 percent of the votes – and the FDP is out of the state parliament. With the Liberals it was only enough for 4.7 percent (minus 2.8). The left also missed out on entering the state parliament: they won 2.7 percent of the votes (minus 1.9). Other parties accounted for 5.7 percent of the vote.
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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 45,000, switched to the Greens, 40,000 to the AfD. 55,000 voters who checked the CDU in 2017 did not vote at all this time.
According to the opinion research institute, the SPD has lost 55,000 voters to the Greens, 25,000 to the AfD and 35,000 to non-voters.
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Allocation of seats in Parliament
According to the provisional official final result, the SPD has 57 seats in the Lower Saxony state parliament. Together with the Greens (24 seats), she certainly has an absolute majority. The CDU has 47 seats and the AfD 18.
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 60.3 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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