North Rhine-Westphalia: Hand-to-hand battle today between CDU and SPD polls show

Countdown to ballot box closure in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The local elections in the most populous and extremely important – from an economic point of view – state of Germany will be completed at 6 pm German time (7 pm Greek time). Recent polls suggest the CDU (which has ruled since 2017) is ahead of the SPD. Expected immediately after the first results of the exit polls.

According to Handelsblatt, North Rhine-Westphalia has long since ceased to be the “home state” of social democracy.

Since 2017, a CDU / FDP coalition has ruled the most populous state. The elections there are also called “Bundestag small elections” and are closely monitored in Berlin.

According to the same publication, more than 13 million eligible voters are called to the polls in Germany’s most populous state. About 786,000 are first-time voters. 29 parties are registered to vote on state lists. The Landtag is elected for five years. A total of 1375 people are applying for a term in the Landtag.

There are currently five parliamentary groups represented in the Landtag. In 2017, a total of 199 MPs had entered the Landtag due to overcrowding and countervailing mandates. A CDU / FDP coalition has replaced the red-green coalition and has a one-vote majority. The CDU won the 2017 elections with 33% ahead of the SPD, which garnered 31.2%. The FDP came in third with 12.6% – followed by the AfD, which entered the state parliament for the first time with 7.4%. The Greens fell to 6.4% in 2017. Three AfD MPs have now left the parliamentary group and have no faction.

The CDU sends Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst to the race. The former Minister of Transport took over at the end of October from Armin Lasset, who failed as the CDU / CSU candidate for Chancellor. The SPD’s candidate is the head of the local organization and parliamentary group, Thomas Kutschaty, who served as Minister of Justice. The candidate of the Greens is Mona Neubaur. Joachim Stamp, Minister for Family Affairs and Refugees, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, is coming down with the FDP. The AfD’s top candidate is parliamentary group leader Markus Wagner.

Following the coronavirus issue, the war in Ukraine is now dominating the election campaign. Energy security and the phasing out of coal, rising fuel and energy prices and climate change are major issues, along with school policy and affordable housing. As part of the debate over arms deliveries to Ukraine, the CDU and the SPD in Northern Ireland also disagree over the parties’ proximity to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. The election campaign was fueled by the so-called “Mallorca affair”. Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser resigned in early April. It was previously reported that the CDU politician had met with members of the government in Mallorca a few days after the flood disaster in July 2021 to celebrate her husband’s birthday. The FDP and the Greens, on the other hand, ostentatiously focus on substantive issues, such as economic policy and climate protection.

A new version of the black-and-yellow (CDU-SPD) coalition is considered unlikely. However, there are several options for the next state government. In addition to the rather unpopular large coalition of the CDU and the SPD, a black-green alliance, a “Jamaican” alliance between the CDU, the Greens and the FDP, would be possible. The SPD could also form a coalition with the Greens and the FDP, as in the federal government. Wüst would like to continue with a black-and-yellow coalition, but the FDP, like the Greens, keeps all options open. Kutschaty can imagine a coalition with traffic lights like in the federal government.

* North Rhine-Westphalia: Solz faces tough election test at former party stronghold