Brandenburg election in the press: “Vote for Woidke, slap Olaf”

Brandenburg has voted – and rarely has a state election been the focus of such a nationwide focus as it has been this year. The SPD emerged from the election as the strongest force, just ahead of the AfD – a triumph for Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke, according to the verdict in the comment columns of German newspapers. The press review of the election in Brandenburg:

“Augsburger Allgemeine”: “The SPD’s election victory shows how it is possible to defeat the AfD. A prime minister who has earned the people’s trust, a government that does its job relatively quietly and an economy that is growing significantly above the national trend are – in fact, obvious – prerequisites for keeping the extreme right at bay.”

“Handelsblatt” (Dusseldorf): “The Brandenburg election is now sending out a signal: look, with the right candidate, the SPD can win even seemingly hopeless elections. Subtext: What Woidke can do in Brandenburg, Scholz can do even more at the federal level. After all, he has already proven it. (…) But it is unlikely to be that easy for Scholz. Voters in Brandenburg chose Woidke not because of the SPD, but despite it. Scholz does not enjoy the popularity of the state governor in the slightest. While Woidke stands for solid governance, Scholz’s reputation as a solid governing politician has been somewhat tarnished following the heating law and the budget ruling. Scholz is more the head of a federal government whose trademark is constant dispute. (…) The question of whether he is the right candidate for chancellor will continue to haunt Scholz even after the Brandenburg election.”

“Weser-Courier” (Bremen): “The result of the state election in Brandenburg is first and foremost a triumph for Dietmar Woidke. The Prime Minister had put everything on the line when he announced that he would only remain in office if his SPD remained the strongest party in the state. This strategy has clearly paid off. The good result is clearly due to the high approval ratings that Woidke enjoys in the state. Even many voters of the coalition partner CDU were of the opinion that the 62-year-old had done a good job. For this reason, many voted for him straight away… But the results are not just due to personal sympathies. Woidke can also demonstrate objective successes. Brandenburg recently recorded higher economic growth than Bavaria.”

“Rhein-Nackar-Zeitung” (Heidelberg): “But the SPD campaign only gained real momentum because Woidke firstly made it clear that he could only stay in state politics if the AfD did not become the strongest force – and secondly because he decoupled his election campaign from the federal SPD, the traffic light government and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This strategy worked because it was no longer necessary to vote for one of the protest parties to signal dissatisfaction. ‘Voting for Woidke’ suddenly also meant ‘giving Olaf a slap in the face’. So it wasn’t just anti-AfD voters who paid in for Woidke, but also voters who wanted to learn a lesson. A risky but ultimately successful election campaign strategy. Chapeau!”

“Rhine Palatinate” (Ludwigshafen): “Woidke’s triumph is paradoxical: The federal SPD is celebrating a victory that was not achieved because of Scholz, but despite Scholz. But if the SPD can only win elections by hiding its chancellor, then the party has a pretty big problem.”

“New Osnabrück Newspaper”: “Hundreds of thousands of people obviously have the impression that those in power no longer see them as ‘their own people’, that ‘Berlin’, ‘the traffic light coalition’ or especially ‘the Greens’ have turned their backs on their real lives. According to studies, the feeling of being patronised by politics is most widespread among AfD supporters. If the traffic light parties and the Union want to shrink the AfD again, they will have to find out what they themselves have contributed to this mood and how they can put an end to it. The better they succeed in doing this, the fewer people will be embarrassed to vote for people like Hans-Christoph Berndt due to a lack of attractive offers.”

The stern capital team

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“South Courier” (Constance): “Dietmar Woidke gambled high – and it paid off. By announcing that he would withdraw if he lost to the AfD, he took a big personal risk. That probably went down well with voters. Above all, he threw his incumbency bonus as a popular state premier into the balance. It’s all or nothing – me or the AfD: In the close race against the Alternative for Germany, that probably gave the SPD man the decisive points. So it’s definitely possible to campaign against the AfD. The fact that Woidke completely dispensed with the Chancellor’s support paid off for him – but also for Olaf Scholz. If the SPD had suffered a crushing defeat in Brandenburg, which has been governed by the Social Democrats since 1990, the question of his suitability for the upcoming federal election in 2025 would otherwise have quickly arisen.”