Voting Process - The CDU comes out on top in European elections, while the AfD is leading in Germersheim.
The CDU emerged as the most dominant party among the twelve city-free states and twenty-four districts in Rhineland-Palatinate, based on a statistical assessment published on Monday. This was after counting the twelve city-free states, the twenty-nine independent municipalities, and the one hundred and twenty-nine municipal associations in the region. The Union took the lead in one hundred and sixty-nine out of one hundred and seventy municipal units. There was only a single exception: the Verbandsgemeinde Germersheim, where the AfD snatched the top spot with a 27.2% share of the votes.
In the European election held on Sunday, the CDU raked in 30.7% of the votes in Rhineland-Palatinate - a reduction of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous election. The ruling coalition in the region mostly struggled with low scores: the SPD mustered 17.5%, losing 3.8%; the Greens bagged 9.3%, down by 7.4%; while the FDP gained 5.9%, up by 0.1%.
The AfD played the third strongest card with 14.7% (up by 4.9%), while the Independent Voters - a party represented in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament - notched up 5.2% (up by 2.3%). The new party BWS, led by Sahra Wagenknecht, secured 4.7% of the votes in Rhineland-Palatinate.
In Northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate, the CDU was largely unbeatable, while the AfD made considerable inroads in the Northeast and the Palatinate. The CDU scored the most (47.2%) in the Verbandsgemeinde Adenau in the Eifel region - more than double the share of the SPD. It claimed a high of 25.7% in the Verbandsgemeinde Loreley.
The Greens and FDP had their strongest showings in Rhineland-Hesse and the districts of Ahrweiler and Bad Dürkheim, respectively. The Independent Voters gained their best results in the Eifel and near the Luxembourg border. The AfD enjoyed an edge in the north-eastern part of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Palatinate. BWS, a newcomer, performed best in the Southwest Palatinate and the Kaiserslautern area.
There was evidence to suggest that the AfD and BWS had performed remarkably well in economically struggling areas. The more jobless people in a region and the higher the dependency on welfare benefits, the more successful these two parties were. "Economic and social factors are likely to have influenced voting patterns in Rhineland-Palatinate," said the state election head.
Additionally, a link was discovered between regions with a high population of young people aged between fifteen and nineteen and the voter choice of AfD and BWS. The CDU and FDP, on the other hand, uncovered substantial support in regions with high geriatric proportions.
A stratospheric 53.1% of Rhineland-Palatinate's electorate utilized postal voting in the European election, breaking the previous record for a vote on the European Parliament in that state.
