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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has suffered a historic loss in key elections in two provinces today, seen as referendums on how the country is addressing the coronavirus crisis, the DPA reported.
In the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, the HDZ received a record low support of 23 percent, according to the forecast results. This is a decrease compared to the 27 percent the party received in the previous elections, in 2016.
In neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate state, the HDZ also declined, with 26.5 percent of voters voting for the party. Until last month, the HDZ led the way in opinion polls.
The electoral results are the worst performance of the HDZ in both provinces, says DPA.
It is not a good election night for the HDZ, admitted the general secretary of the party, Paul Tsimyak, who explained the poor results of the party with the scandals with the orders of masks and the tension generated by the management of the crisis caused by the epidemic. “The truly dishonest and shameless behavior of individual MPs has created great tension in the election campaign,” he said.
The image of Christian Democrats has been tarnished by a public procurement scandal over masks. Several conservative lawmakers have resigned after being accused of receiving commissions to liquidate such orders.
Today’s vote will also affect the election of Merkel’s successor as chancellor and the upcoming regional and federal elections in the fall. The looming defeat in Baden-Württemberg could help Armin Laschet’s Bavarian rival, Marcus Söder of the Christian Social Union (CSU), to become the CDU / CSU’s top candidate for German chancellor in September.
The results in Baden-Württemberg, where the Greens won 31.5 percent, secured Winfried Kretschmann’s third term as prime minister. Baden-Württemberg was once a stronghold of the CDU. There are the headquarters of some of the largest German corporations: Mercedes Benz, Hugo Boss, Robert Bosch and Porsche.
Kretschmann thanked voters who backed him and said he intended to form a “credible and stable government” but declined to say whether the Greens would continue the coalition with the Christian Democrats or create a new one with the Social Democrats, who say 12 percent of them vote. and the business-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP), which received 11.5 percent.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, as expected, the Social Democrats won, getting 33.5 percent of the vote. The HDZ ranks second with 26 percent, but this is its worst result in this province. In third place is Alternative for Germany with 10.5 percent, followed by FDP with 6.5 percent, Greens with 8.5 percent and “Free Voters” with 5.5 percent.
In today’s elections in both German provinces, support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AzG) party is waning.
In Baden-Württemberg, 12.5 percent of voters voted for AZ, while in the previous 2016 elections it was 15.1 percent. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the forecast results also show a decline in support from 12.6 percent in 2016 to 10.5 percent in today’s elections.
