NRW municipal elections-Heditory: CDU in front, SPD and Greens lose

Note: This article is continuously updated.

The CDU clearly remains the strongest force in the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. The AfD, which was able to triple its result, is also one of the winners in the most populous federal state. In this way, she ended up in third place behind the SPD in the nationwide election. The Greens had to accept considerable losses.

The coordination in North Rhine-Westphalia was the first political mood test for the black-red federal government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) after the early Bundestag election in February.

The strengthening of the AfD in the west triggered worries with the other parties. “This result has to give us thinking, nor can let us sleep calmly,” said NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU). “Even my party who won this choice so clearly.”

The graphic below shows continuously updates the results of the projections:

According to a extrapolation for the local elections shortly after 9 p.m. in the WDR, the CDU has 33.7 percent nationwide. The Christian Democrats were 0.6 percentage points below their result in the 2020 local elections (34.3 percent).

The SPD follows in second place with 22.1 percent and a minus of 2.2 percentage points compared to 2020. The AfD is strong on the upper, which increased by 9.9 points to 15.0 percent and thus pushed itself in third place in front of the Greens. These suffered losses of 6.9 percentage points and landed at 13.1 percent. The AfD in North Rhine -Westphalia had already overtaken the Greens in the Bundestag election in February.

The FDP dropped to 3.5 percent and lost 2.1 percentage points. The left improved by 1.7 points to 5.5 percent.

According to the WDR, the turnout was significantly higher at 58.5 percent than in the 2020 local election (51.9 percent).

AfD state chief Martin Vincentz said: “The first counts clearly show it: NRW wants less” keep it up “and more AfD-much more!” The local elections are more than a pure coordination of the mayor, city councilors and district councils. “It was a referendum on the direction of our country. And whoever ignores the will of the voters will be punished by the voters.” The AfD has an increasingly clear proportion of real regular voters.

The Gelsenkirchen AfD member of the state parliament Enxhi Seli-Zacharias said in the WDR: “We cemented our electorate. It is no longer a pure frustration or a tactical choice.”

NRW head of government Wüst was concerned. All democratic parties face challenges that the AfD is likely to have more than tripled its result compared to the past local elections. Everyone would have to ask themselves: “What are the right answers in terms of poverty migration? Are all parts of our social systems really fair? What about problematic real estate?”

The SPD chairman Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil reacted disappointed. “It is true that we couldn’t stop the downward trend,” said Duisburg -based Bas in the WDR. Nevertheless, the values ​​are not a disaster, as your party was previously predicted. “Of course we have to ask ourselves how we can get out of this low,” said Bas. The good result of the AfD must take care of all democratic parties.

The co-chair and Vice Chancellor Klingbeil told the German Press Agency that the economic situation had driven the voters the most. “We will not let up when it comes to economic growth and safe jobs. That has priority for us.”

The SPD state chairman Achim Post said: “The NRW SPD understood.” There should now be no “further” with the NRW SPD. Politics had to take place in such a way that people understand them: “That we discuss, decide and implement that we do not get bogged down in any secondary debate”.

Chancellor Merz, Vice Chancellor Klingbeil, Federal Minister of Labor BAS and other top representatives of the federal parties performed several times in the election campaign in NRW, which underlined the federal political importance of the local elections. For Merz and BAS as well as other federal politicians such as Bundestag parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn and CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann, NRW is the home state.

According to Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn, the outcome of the local elections with the victory of the CDU gives the black and red coalition in the BUND tailwind. The result is an incentive for calm pragmatic work. At the same time, Spahn warned: “The increase in the extreme right must be a wake -up call for us: poverty migration, social abuse and too often failed integration must not be taboo.”

The NRW green also reacted disappointed in view of the crash of their party. “In the past local elections, they have a headwind, at the moment they often have headwinds,” said the Greens state chairman Yazgülü Zeybek and Tim Achtermeyer. In 2020, the Greens had achieved their best result in a local election with 20 percent. Greens Central Center Felix Banaszak sees the weak performance in the local elections as a result of a fundamental political shift. “Ecological, progressive politics has a hard time,” he said.

Around 13.7 million citizens were invited to the local elections in the most populous state. Councils in cities and municipalities as well as mayors, mayors and district councilors were elected. Since 1999, the CDU has regularly brought most votes nationwide in local elections in NRW. In contrast to the Bundestag or Landtag election, there are no five percent blocking clause in the local elections in NRW for city and municipal councils and district councils.

If none of the applicants received more than 50 percent of the valid votes in the votes on mayors, mayors or district councilors in the first ballot, the two best -placed people will go to a runoff on September 28. A simple majority to victory is enough here.