State election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Schwesig before clear victory

Status: 26.09.2021 6:00 p.m.

According to forecasts, the SPD has won a clear victory in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: According to Prime Minister Schwesig’s party, 37 percent of the vote, while the AfD, CDU and the Left are making losses. Two parties are likely to make a comeback in the state parliament.

In the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, she says ARD forecast from Infratest dimap a clear victory for the SPD ahead. According to this, Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig’s party would come to 37 percent – that would be a significant gain compared to the state election in 2016 (30.6 percent).

The second strongest force would be the AfD with 18.5 percent (2016: 20.8 percent), followed by the CDU, which slipped to 14 percent (2016: 19.0 percent). The Left Party is 10 percent (2016: 13.2 percent) – so all three parties would lose voting shares compared to the previous state election.

According to the forecasts, it should be enough for the Greens to move into the state parliament, who will reach 7 percent (2016: 4.8 percent). The same applies to the FDP, which also significantly increased its result and now comes to 6.5 percent (2016: 3.0 percent). Both parties were recently not represented in the state parliament.

SPD with several coalition options

A clear victory for the SPD was expected, in surveys it had recently achieved values ​​of up to 40 percentage points. The party has been the head of government in the state for 23 years and is currently forming a coalition with the CDU. The CDU state chairman and top candidate Michael Sack did not succeed in the election campaign to bring his party forward again.

A continuation of the current coalition would now be possible, but also cooperation between the SPD and the Left Party. Alliances in which the SPD governs with two other parties are also conceivable.

Before the election, Schwesig avoided questions about her coalition preferences. She had pointed out that her party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had worked reliably in government alliances with both the left and the CDU since the late 1990s.

Lots of postal voters

Around 1.32 million eligible voters in the state were called to vote on the Bundestag and Landtag. According to the municipal electoral authorities, a considerable part of the voters had already used the postal voting option.

According to the state election officer, 455 candidates from 24 parties and nine individual applicants applied for the 71 mandates in the state parliament. There are 36 direct mandates to be awarded, 35 more members of parliament come from the state lists of the parties.

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