Bremen re-elects its state parliament and local councils. So far, an alliance of SPD, Greens and Left Party has governed. Election researchers expect a tight race for first place.
In the smallest federal state of Bremen, the election of the state parliament, the Bremen Parliament, has begun. The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Votes can be cast until 6 p.m.; after that, forecasts of the result are expected. 462,000 citizens can vote for the citizenship.
The two-city state with Bremen and Bremerhaven has so far been led by a coalition of SPD, Greens and Left. Mayor and Senate President Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD, 57) has ruled since 2019 and wants to defend his office. In Bremen, unlike in the other federal states, the state parliament is elected every four years. Important issues in the election campaign were education, security and transport.
Especially when it comes to the smaller partners of the traffic light coalition in the federal government, the Berlin headquarters are looking to Bremen. For the FDP it is about the end of a series of failures in state elections. The Greens have lost approval in Bremen and at the federal level.
The AfD remains excluded from the election because two competing groups in the party had submitted election lists. The right-wing populist voters’ association Bürger in Wut (BiW) could benefit from the exclusion: in surveys it comes to eight to ten percent.
FDP is just above the five percent hurdle
According to the election polls, Bovenschulte can hope for another term in Bremen City Hall. According to the latest surveys, the SPD is 29 to 30 percent ahead of the CDU, which comes to 26 to 28 percent. State President Frank Imhoff (54) is the top candidate for the Christian Democrats. According to Imhoff, he is hoping for a similar surprise from the CDU as in the election to the House of Representatives in Berlin. In the Berlin election, the CDU was clearly ahead of the SPD.
In a direct comparison with Bovenschulte, Imhoff is at a disadvantage according to a survey by the ZDF “Politbarometer”. 60 percent of those surveyed spoke out in favor of the head of government, 23 percent for the challenger.
According to the pollsters, the Greens are between twelve and 13 percent, the left between nine and eleven. At six percent, the FDP is just above the five percent hurdle. In the elections in Berlin and Lower Saxony, the party failed due to the blocking clause.
Local elections are also held in Bremen and Bremerhaven parallel to the state elections. Around 495,000 Bremen residents can vote here, as EU citizens without German citizenship are also entitled to vote.
Source: Stern
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