Hanover (dpa / lni) – In the local elections in Lower Saxony, the Greens achieved the largest increase in votes, but they remain the third strongest force behind the CDU and SPD. Despite losing votes, the CDU was able to mobilize most of the voters. According to the preliminary official final result on Monday, it achieved 31.7 percent in the independent cities and districts including the Hanover region. The SPD came to 30.0 percent.
Compared to the local elections five years ago, both parties gave up: the CDU lost 2.6 percentage points, the SPD 1.2. The SPD’s plan to replace the CDU as the strongest communal force after around 40 years did not work out.
The Greens, on the other hand, made significant gains, coming in at 15.9 percent. The party did not succeed in doubling the result that the Greens had hoped for, but its share of the vote increased by 5.0 percentage points compared to 2016. The FDP came to 6.5 percent (+1.7), the AfD to 4.6 percent (-3.3) and the left to 2.8 percent (-0.5).
“Lower Saxony is becoming greener, we have grown everywhere,” said the Greens state chairwoman Anne Kura. It is the best local election result for the Greens in Lower Saxony. “Despite all prophecies of doom, the CDU has shown in Lower Saxony that it can fight and that it can also win,” said CDU regional chief Bernd Althusmann. Even Prime Minister and SPD country leader Stephan Weil expressed satisfaction for his party despite the losses. The SPD has won several direct elections or is going to the runoff.
In the parliaments of many large cities, the Greens in Lower Saxony are now the strongest force. This succeeded in the state capital Hanover with a wafer-thin lead. In Osnabrück, the Greens came first in the council, ahead of the CDU and SPD, and also in Oldenburg, where the SPD came in second and the CDU came in third. The SPD continues to dominate the council of Lower Saxony’s second largest city, Braunschweig, as does Wolfsburg.
In the eleven mayor elections, only three were decided in the first round, where the previous incumbents won: In Salzgitter Frank Klingebiel (CDU), in Hameln Claudio Griesebach (CDU) and in Hildesheim Ingo Meyer (independent). There will be runoffs in the other eight major cities, including Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Göttingen, Lüneburg, Oldenburg and Osnabrück.
Around 6.5 million people were called to cast their votes. The turnout in the district elections was slightly higher than five years ago, namely 57.1 percent (+1.5). Due to corona-related access restrictions to the ballot boxes, there were long queues for voting in many polling stations.
According to political scientist Andreas Busch, the results of the local elections in Lower Saxony will not have any significant impact on the federal election. “Local elections are only loosely linked to federal trends,” said the scientist from the University of Göttingen of the dpa. “This is much more about local issues.” Busch cited the schools, the streets and the quality of the garbage collection as examples. From his point of view, effects on the Bundestag election would only have been expected if one party had recorded a drastic victory or a drastic defeat. Neither was the case.
From the scientist’s point of view, the results show that the political landscape is changing. “We are dealing with a pluralization of the party landscape. There are no longer one or two parties that dominate,” said the professor from the Institute for Political Science in Göttingen. “The Greens have clearly established themselves as the third force in the country.” The development of pluralization becomes clear also with a view to the upcoming runoff elections in the big cities, where there are many different constellations.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210913-99-199869 / 4
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