Approximately six and a half million eligible voters are called upon to cast their votes in community elections. The composition of district assemblies, city parliaments, local councils and regional assemblies are to be voted on. Mayors and district administrators are also directly elected.
Traditionally strong CDU and SPD
It is eagerly awaited, among other things, whether the SPD will support the CDU for the first time in a local election Lower Saxony as the nation’s strongest force. In the local elections of 2016, the two were already quite close to each other. Overall, however, the initial political situation differs from region to region. The parties often have strongholds, while they do worse elsewhere. A nationwide result is expected for early Monday morning.
In total, according to the state election committee between the North Sea and the Harz, more than 2,100 municipal parliaments were to be elected, and around 280 posts were to be assigned to district administrators and mayors. Among other things, new heads of administration for Braunschweig, Oldenburg and Göttingen were elected.
Traditionally, the CDU and SPD are far ahead of the other parties at the local level. In the previous local elections in 2016, the Christian Democrats achieved a nationwide result of 34.3 percent at district level, but the SPD was close behind at 31.2 percent. The Greens followed in third place with 10.9 percent. The AfD came to 7.9 percent five years ago, the FDP to 4.8 percent and the Left to 3.3 percent. Voter groups received six percent.
All parties have their distinct regional strongholds. The CDU achieved voting shares of well over 50 percent in the East Lower Saxony districts such as Emsland and Cloppenburg, and the same applies to the district of Celle, for example. The SPD also achieved values of more than 50 percent in the Leer and Aurich districts and in the Peine district. The Greens achieved their best results in the cities of Oldenburg and Osnabrück as well as in the district of Lüneburg.
In general, the Greens are also stronger in the Lower Saxony area around the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, as well as in the region around the capital Hanover. The AfD achieved its best result by far in 2016 in the city of Delmenhorst with 15.2 percent. Voter groups also play an important role regionally. In the Lüchow-Dannenberg district, citizen lists and voter associations received around 30 percent in 2016, in Emden they received around 20 percent.
