Voting Process: An Overview - Concern among Hesse's political figures over outcome of European elections
In the beginning of the fresh week, discussions on the outcome of the European elections in Germany and Hessen will take place in Hessen. From Monday onwards, the parties will be examining the numbers, and one of the main concerns will be what the European result signifies for Hessen.
The CDU triumphed in the European elections in Hessen on Sunday. The party of Hessen's Prime Minister Boris Rhein took first place on Sunday night with an official preliminary result of 30.0% and increased their vote share by 4.2 percentage points as compared to the previous election five years before. The SPD, Hessen's ruling coalition partner, came in second place with 16.4% (decreased by 2.0 percentage points). The AfD gained 3.7 percentage points and received 13.6% of the votes.
The Greens experienced a massive decline of -10.5 percentage points and were able to secure only 12.9% of the votes. The FDP maintained their result with a minor change (-0.1 percentage points) and finished in 6.3%. The new party "Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht" garnered 4.4% of the votes in their debut. The number of voters participating in the election surged considerably and reached 63.1% (previously it stood at 58.4%).
Around 4.85 million eligible voters could have partaken in deciding on the future distribution of seats in the EU Parliament. Among the voters were around 100,000 young individuals who were aged 16 or 17, making their first appearance in the elections in Hessen. There were 34 parties and political associations listed on the ballot paper.
720 EU parliamentarians were elected. Germany currently has 96 women and men in the parliament that meets in both Strasbourg and Brussels. In the 2019 election, 7 politicians and politicians from Hessen secured their seats: two from the CDU, one Green, one Social Democrat, one AfD representative, one FDP representative, and one from the Free Voters.
Hessen's European Minister Manfred Pentz (CDU) viewed the significant increase in voter turnout on Sunday evening as a strong indication that people back European integration. Pentz mentioned the national results as a reminder to the federal government's policies. "It's unfortunate that people expressed their frustrations with Europe at the traffic light," Pentz said. "This will undoubtedly weaken the effectiveness of the EU's functioning. The fresh factions in the European Parliament must now work together and show that the only response to anti-European sentiments is a proactive, unbureaucratic, and people-friendly EU."
