Parties: Hesse decides on the future state government in the election

A new state parliament will be elected in Hesse today. When the polling stations open at 8 a.m., around 4.3 million Hessians are asked to put their crosses on the ballot paper. What is particularly exciting is the question of which parties will govern together in the future.

Surveys see the CDU ahead

According to the latest polls, the CDU led by Prime Minister and top candidate Boris Rhein is the clear favorite in the election and can expect to become the strongest force again. Behind them, a close race for second place is expected between the SPD, the Greens and the AfD. A black-green coalition currently governs Hesse.

A continuation of the alliance seems just as possible as a coalition between the CDU and SPD. The SPD top candidate and Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser prefers a traffic light coalition with the Greens and FDP, but for this to happen the three parties would still have to make gains compared to the surveys. The other parties have ruled out collaboration with the AfD.

The Greens ran for the first time with their own candidate for Prime Minister, Tarek Al-Wazir. The FDP, Left and Free Voters are also hoping to enter the Hessian state parliament. At the same time, a new state parliament will be elected in Bavaria today.

CDU top candidate Rhein announced in an interview with the news channel Welt that he would talk to the Greens, SPD and FDP about forming a government if he were successful in the election. The question is: “Where can you implement the most of your policy and with whom it fits best?” According to recent opinion polls, a coalition consisting only of the CDU and FDP would not have a majority.

Election results from 2018

The last Hessian state election to date was in October 2018. The CDU was the strongest party at that time with 27 percent, followed by the Greens and the SPD with 19.8 percent each. The AfD achieved 13.1 percent, and the FDP (7.5 percent) and the Left (6.3 percent) also entered the state parliament. The voter turnout was 67.3 percent. The CDU and the Greens then renewed their black-green alliance, which only achieved a wafer-thin majority of one vote.

Counting and result

Polling stations close at 6 p.m. Counting will then take place; the provisional final result will probably not be known until later in the evening or on Monday night. Many people may have already voted by postal vote in the previous weeks. At the beginning of October, the state returning officer estimated that the proportion this time would be significantly higher than in the 2018 state election.

New state parliament

The new Hessian state parliament will meet for its constituent session on January 18, 2024 in Wiesbaden. The current electoral period ends the day before. If the formation of a government is successful by then, the MPs will then elect the Prime Minister.

The Hessian parliament normally has 110 parliamentarians, but this number can increase. There are currently 137 representatives in the state parliament, more than ever before, which is due to the electoral system with overhang and compensatory mandates. 55, or half, of the parliamentary seats are awarded via the first vote via direct election in the individual constituencies. However, the state result of a party (second vote) is decisive for the distribution of seats.

If a party wins more direct mandates than it would be entitled to based on the second result, it gets overhang mandates. In this case, the other parties represented in the state parliament receive compensatory mandates so that the election results are not grossly distorted. Most recently there were 8 overhang and 19 compensation mandates. Only three parties won direct mandates in 2018: CDU, SPD and Greens