Voting Events - CDU victorious in north European elections; Greens suffer setback
Success for the CDU in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein: Securing an impressive 30.2% of the votes, the party led by Minister President Daniel Günther emerged as the dominant force in the region. The Greens were pushed back to third place, garnering 15.4% of the votes.
The Greens experienced a significant decline, losing 13.7 points compared to the previous election in 2019 when they had achieved the highest percentage with 29.1% of the votes. In contrast, the AfD witnessed the greatest gains and boosted their result by 4.7 points to 12.2%, making them the fourth strongest force in the region.
Other parties like SPD received 16.7% of the votes (compared to 17.1% in 2019), FDP experienced a minor increase of 0.4%, and the Left saw a decrease of 1.4 points to 2.3%. BSW emerged with 4.1% of the votes. The dismal results for the SPD marked the poorest performance in a European election in Schleswig-Holstein in its history. In the state capital, Kiel, the Greens emerged victorious with 24.4% of the votes, followed by the CDU's 19.5%. The SPD, which holds the mayorship of the city, came in third place with 17% of the votes.
Voter turnout experienced a significant spike, rising to 64.4% compared to 59.8% in the previous European election. In Eckernförde, hometown of Minister President Günther, the Greens slid from first to third place, fetching 16.4% of the votes. The CDU emerged as the strongest party in Eckernförde with 27.9% of the votes.
National projections suggest that the Christian Democrats may have gathered up to 30.3% of the votes, making them the front-runners in the European election. This "really good result" was lauded by Günther, who emphasized the Christian Democrats claimed as many votes as all parties in the traffic light coalition put together. Günther stated that the declining support highlighted the collapse of trust in the current federal government.
In what can be considered a prelude to the federal election, the campaign took on a populist and aggressive tone, void of any European-centric content. Meanwhile, SpD-Landtagsfraktionsvorsitzende Serpil Midyatli commented on the outcome. The clash within the traffic light coalition was seen as ineffective and failed to help the SPD's declining performance.
Green party's Schleswig-Holstein state candidate Rasmus Andresen implied that the coalition's internal strife could lead to serious repercussions in climate policy. Anke Erdmann, the state chairperson of the Greens, concurred, adding that such conflicting interests often overshadowed the important accomplishments of the Greens. Hence, the Greens witnessed substantial losses.
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- Despite the CDU's success in Schleswig-Holstein, the European elections showed a potential shift in power at the national level, with projections suggesting the Christian Democrats could secure 30.3% of the votes.
- The EU election campaign in Schleswig-Holstein took on a contentious tone, echoing the tone of future elections, such as the federal election.
- The Green party in Europe is facing challenges, as evidenced by their result in the Schleswig-Holstein elections, where they slipped to third place and suffered substantial losses.
- In the EU elections, the Alliance 90/The Greens, despite dominating in Kiel with 24.4% of the votes, saw their support decline dramatically compared to the 2019 elections in Schleswig-Holstein.
- The EU elections in Schleswig-Holstein demonstrated a significant shift in voter preferences, with the SPD experiencing the poorest performance in their history, the AfD gaining support, and the CDU emerging as the dominant force.
- The EU elections results in Schleswig-Holstein highlighted the impact of internal strife within coalitions, as the Greens' decline in support was attributed to conflicting interests within the coalition, hampering their achievements in climate policy.
