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The CDU defends first place in local elections in NRW. Prime Minister Laschet also sees the result as a success of his crown policy. The Greens gain the most, the SPD clearly loses.
In local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the CDU clearly became the strongest force at the national level, and the Greens celebrated a record result. The SPD, by contrast, suffered another setback.
According to an infratest projection, Prime Minister Armin Laschet’s Christian Democrats may be put off by the WDR (8:07 pm) nationwide, 35.8 percent of the vote is expected. They were 1.7 percentage points below their 2014 result.
Worst result for SPD
The second strongest force is therefore the Social Democrats, who should finish just ahead of the Greens after major losses. The SPD lost 8 percentage points to only 23.4 percent, its worst result in a local NRW election.
The Greens were able to increase their share of the vote by 7 percentage points to 18.7 percent. That would be his best state-level result in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the forecast, the Greens will be by far the strongest force in the city hall of the metropolis of Cologne.
Laschet praises his crown policy
The NRW local elections were viewed with particular tension this year. It was the last big vote before the CDU federal party conference in December, in which NRW Prime Minister Laschet requests the party chairmanship. “I’m happy this is a good Sunday,” Laschet said. The vote was the largest election in Germany this year. “And the CDU won the elections.”
He described his party’s victory as a recognition of the “path of moderation and mean in the pandemic.” This path “was correct, correct and will continue to be correct in the future” for North Rhine-Westphalia, Laschet said. Many did not expect the CDU to win “on this scale” in a country that had been ruled by the SPD for 50 years. His party has shown that it can win in rural areas as well as in large metropolises and in the Ruhr area.
SPD is in front of the Greens
The leader of the North Rhine-Westphalia SPD, Sebastian Hartmann, sees his party as a strong political force despite its losses. “Compared to the 2019 European elections, we can significantly improve our result across the country, even if, sadly, we are lagging behind the 2014 local election results,” he said. “However, the trend has changed and we are ahead of the Greens.”
SPD Federal President Saskia Esken spoke of a bitter defeat. “That is, of course, a disappointing result,” he told ZDF. “We have not been able to make it clear that there is a difference where the Social Democrats rule.” When asked if the newly elected SPD candidate for chancellor, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the party had wished for a better performance, they were actually local elections.
Greens President Mona Neubaur and Felix Banaszak declared: “This is a fantastic result for us.” Ecological issues like climate protection and the transition to traffic would have made the decision. Based on extrapolation, the AfD has improved to 5.2 percent after having played only a minor role in 2014 at 2.6 percent. For the FDP, the forecast voted after 5.0 percent. This roughly corresponds to the 2014 result. The left is 3.5 percent below the 2014 result, when it had reached 4.7 percent. The 51.5 percent share was slightly higher than in 2014 (50 percent).
Second round elections for mayor decisions
In addition to the municipal parliaments, mayors, mayors and district administrators were also elected in NRW. In Cologne, the only metropolis in North Rhine-Westphalia, independent mayor Henriette Reker may have to go to a second round. According to the extrapolation (7:32 pm), she received 47.0 percent of the votes, so the absolute majority would have been narrowly lost. Her SPD rival, Andreas Kossiski, received 25.2 percent of the vote. According to a poll before the election, Reker could expect a victory in the first round.
There was also a second round in Westphalia’s largest city, Dortmund. Based on the extrapolation (7:25 pm), SPD applicant Thomas Westphal comes in at 34.6 percent. It is still unclear who will be able to play Westphal at the polls in 14 days. On extrapolation, Andreas Hollstein was 24.4 percent ahead of former Green State president Daniela Schneckenburger (21.3 percent).
In the NRW state capital Düsseldorf, SPD Mayor Thomas Geisel assumed he would have to be in a runoff against CDU candidate Stephan Keller.
First choice in crown conditions
With around 14 million eligible voters, the NRW municipal election was the largest vote of the year, and the first under full conditions for Corona. There were no large concentrations of the parties and the electoral campaign was in the background.
There were long lines in front of numerous polling stations on Election Day. According to a city spokesperson, the last polling stations in Bochum did not close until around 7 pm Those queuing in front of the polling stations at 6 pm were allowed to cast their vote.
