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The CDU clearly won the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia despite slight losses. Prime Minister Armin Laschet has thus received a tailwind for his candidacy for the presidency of the CDU.
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. The NRW Prime Minister had to receive much criticism for his course in the Corona crisis.
According to an extrapolation from the WDR as of 8:18 p.m., Christian Democrats get 35.8 percent of the vote nationally. They were 1.7 percentage points below their 2014 result.
The second strongest force will therefore be the Social Democrats, who should finish before the Greens after significant losses. According to the Infratest Dimap extrapolation, the SPD has lost 8 percentage points and only achieved 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 extrapolation, the AfD reached 5.2 percent, that is, 2.6 percentage points more than in 2014. Consequently, 5.0 percent of voters voted for the FDP. That is a small advantage of 0.3 points. At 3.5 percent, the left remained 1.2 points below the 2014 result. According to the WDR forecast, the electoral turnout of 51.5 percent was slightly higher than in 2014 (50 percent). .
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In local elections in the most populous federal state, about 14 million citizens were summoned on Sunday to re-elect city councils and district assemblies, as well as mayors, mayors and district administrators. Due to Corona requirements for the polls, long lines formed in front of polling stations in many locations.
Who voted for whom?
An analysis of the electoral results carried out by the WDR reaches the conclusion: the young vote in green, the old in black.
The comparison between young and old shows clear differences: The Greens are in the Popular Party among those under 25 (33 percent), but only third among those over 60 (12 percent). The CDU is completely different: it struggles with the younger generation at just 22 percent, but has double the percentage points for those over 60. SPD is also more successful with the elderly: 29 percent compared to 16 percent. The FDP and the left, however, hardly reach the over 60s.
The younger, the greener: Among 16-24 year olds, the Greens are by far the strongest party nationally, with about a third of the votes. Obviously, the younger generation is very concerned about environmental problems. The CDU came in second with 22 percent. On the other hand, the AfD is defeated with only four percent of the children.
In other words, this CDU: For the young it is a quarter, for the middle a third, for the old it is half. If it is only 22 percent for young people ages 16 to 24, the CDU receives 49 percent for the generation over 70.
The same applies to the SPD, just on a different level: Few young, many old. With those between 16 and 24 years old, the party can barely score, it only reaches 16 percent, even in the three age groups above it is not even enough for every fourth vote. The SPD remains a popular party among people aged 70 and over. Since it reaches 30 percent.
There are hardly any great fluctuations in terms of sexes. Only the AfD acts as a men’s party: eight percent voted for men and only four percent for women. The left and the FDP also target more men than women. The situation is different with the rest of the party, including the CDU, which recently acknowledged that women rarely hold leadership positions within the party, but won 37 percent of the vote for women, but only 35 for men. . In the case of the Greens, the difference is even greater by four percentage points, it is almost the same for the SPD.
Cologne: Reker has to be in the second round
In Cologne there are signs of a runoff between Mayor Henriette Reker (non-participant) and her SPD rival, Andreas Kossiski. According to the WDR forecast, Reker received 48.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, narrowly missing an absolute majority. According to the forecast, Kossiski received 24 percent of the vote, Jörg Detjen of the left 7 percent.
Reker has been in office since 2015. The independent politician was supported in the election by the CDU and the Greens. The FDP, which had also supported the candidacy the first time, was no longer by his side. Polls before the election had indicated that Reker could possibly achieve an absolute majority on the first ballot.
There is also a second vote in Dortmund
There are also signs of a runoff in Dortmund’s mayoral election. SPD candidate Thomas Westphal got 35.5 percent of the vote. His CDU opponent, Andreas Hollstein, received 25.0 percent. The former president of the state of Greens, Daniela Schneckenburger (Greens) reaches 23.0 percent. It is not yet clear who will face Westphal. In a second round, the citizens of Dortmund would be called to the polls again in 14 days. With around 588,000 inhabitants, Dortmund is the largest city in Westphalia and the third largest in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In North Rhine-Westphalia mayoral elections, an absolute majority is required to win the first vote. Otherwise, the decision between the two first-place candidates will be made in a runoff on September 27. So a simple majority is sufficient.
Greater electoral turnout than in the European elections
In local elections, in general, there was a higher turnout than in last year’s European elections. Sometimes long lines formed in front of polling stations. By 4 pm, 44.9 percent of those eligible to vote had cast their vote, as announced by a spokesperson for the NRW Home Office in Düsseldorf. In the European elections it was 42.7 percent.
In the largest nationwide election this year, about 14 million citizens of the most populous federal state were summoned to re-elect district councils and assemblies, as well as mayors, mayors and district administrators.
In Lünen, the city installed additional voting booths on short notice due to high interest and long lines on Sunday. The city had reduced the number of voting booths by about two-thirds to 23, because many voting booths did not offer enough space in times of the crown pandemic.
In Oberhausen, a 76-year-old voter reported waiting nearly half an hour. In Düsseldorf it was only ten minutes, reported a 49-year-old man. A dpa reporter waited almost 45 minutes at his polling station in Bochum.
Wahl was considered a test of humor for Laschet
The polls in the Rhine and Ruhr also qualify as a test of humor for the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and the head of state of the CDU, Armin Laschet. El Aachener wants to become federal president of the CDU in December and is considered a possible candidate for chancellor of the Union in the federal elections next year.
Your name is not on a single ballot. In reality, a local election is only bad as a barometer of the mood for the state government and its boss. But Laschet emphasizes as proof of suitability for his application for the presidency of the CDU and, in perspective, the Chancellery itself, that he is the only one of the three CDU candidates who has already won an election. How wonderful if this ballot is now considered an indicator of your current winning qualities. .
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Sunday’s local elections were held under the special precautions of Corona. In all polling stations there was a mask requirement and a minimum distance of 1.5 meters. Voters were asked to bring their own pen to mark the box.
Due to the pandemic, many cities in North Rhine-Westphalia registered a high number of votes by mail in advance. Therefore, the proportion of voters by mail could even reach a new record. In the NRW local elections six years ago, it was 26.5 percent.
The high demand for mail-in ballots also gives hope for higher turnout overall, said a spokesman for the Association of Cities and Municipalities. This also contributes to the political environment in the country being more loaded than in previous elections.
“Corona, climate protection, extremism, we are dealing with much more polarizing issues,” the spokesman said. However, this time no more elections will be held in parallel as in 2014, when the European Parliament was elected at the same time. In addition, there is still the fear of corona virus infection. (with AFP, dpa)
