Voting Process - Increasing voter participation anticipated in Hamburg
Just two hours till the polling stations shut in Hamburg, over half of all eligible voters have already cast their ballots in the European and district assembly elections. The Hamburg state electoral officer reports that at 4:00 pm, participation in the European election was recorded at 58%, a boost of 5.1 points compared to the last one in 2019. Similarly, participation in the district elections was at 55.3%, a surge of 6.6 percentage points from half a decade ago.
Including the votes through postal stations, the numbers stand more robust than the last time in 2019.
Hamburg, home to more than 1.3 million eligible voters, has them electing representatives for the European Parliament and the seven district assemblies. There are 34 parties competing in the European elections and 61 different options on the voting ballots in the city's 54 electoral districts. With over 1,200 polling stations, everyone's time runs out at 6:00 pm.
Whilst the tentative official outcome of the European elections is expected to be announced at a later hour, the district assembly elections are scheduled to commence counting on Monday morning.
Going back five years, the Greens dominated both elections, resulting in unprecedented measures of support in Hamburg. Euro elections, they secured 31.1% of the votes and took home the top spot. The SPD arrived second with 19.8% of votes. CDU got their hands on 17.7%, while the Left stand at 7.0%, the AfD with 6.5%, and the FDP earned 5.6% of the total.
At the district assembly level, the Greens topped all districts with 31.3% of the votes. The SPD, on the other hand, managed 24%. CDU caught the ice at 18.2%, the Left with 10.8%, FDP gained 6.6%, and the AfD's votes clocked in at 6.4%.
The turnout for the European elections in 2019 in Hamburg was a respectable 61.9%. On the other hand, the district assembly elections drew crowds of 58% of eligible voters.
