STORY: The rising energy prices – hardly any other topic is as dominant in the election campaign in Lower Saxony as this one. At a protest rally of the bakery trade in Hanover in mid-September, representatives of the SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP were there to show their colors. And to show that people’s problems are taken seriously. Prime Minister Stephan Weil from the SPD promised financial support: “The federal government has to submit, but we also have to do our part in the state. We are also expressly ready to do that. And a debt brake can’t be the big problem there. Now it works much more than a debt brake. Now it’s really about preserving thousands of jobs.” The co-lead candidate of the Greens, Julia Willie Hamburg, is also present at the rally in Hanover. Their message is: SPD and CDU, who currently rule in Lower Saxony, have overslept the energy transition. That’s why you need strong greens. At federal and state level: “This election is above all a federal election. That is only logical, because at the moment this whole question of energy supply affects people the most. We also talk about these topics at the campaign stands. And there you have to state that many people are very happy that Robert Habeck is taking responsibility and trust him to overcome this crisis.” According to a survey by infratest dimap for ARD published ten days before the election, the Greens would almost double their result compared to 2017 and would come to 16 percent. However, infratest-dimap still saw them at 22 percent in July. According to the polls, the FDP has to fight for entry into the state parliament in Lower Saxony. When it comes to energy, top candidate Stefan Birkner continues to focus on nuclear power: “And we are convinced that we must continue to use nuclear energy because it also has a base load component and base load capability, at least for another three or four years. In other words, new fuel elements again order and then burn them down without connecting them to a lasting return to nuclear energy.” Bernd Althusmann, the CDU’s top candidate and current economics minister for Lower Saxony, is also calling for a longer term for the three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany. In the election campaign, he tries to focus on the wrong decisions of the traffic light coalition in Berlin. This much is clear: the question of whether the SPD or CDU will be the strongest party in Lower Saxony on Sunday remains exciting. The polls are predicting a neck-and-neck race here.