Sunday March 14th 2021
Start of the super election year
The incumbent's evening
The first two state elections bring massive problems for the CDU and its new chairman Laschet: The party has historically bad results twice. In contrast, Prime Minister Kretschmann in Stuttgart and Prime Minister Dreyer in Mainz can plan with further terms of office.
It is the evening of the incumbent: In the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, there will be no changes at the top of the respective governments. While the Greens in Stuttgart can even improve their results, the SPD in Mainz is stable and well above the party's national trend. The winners also include the Free Voters, who move into the Mainz parliament. On the other hand, the big loser of the election evening is the CDU, which has historically bad results in both countries. A messed up start for CDU boss Armin Laschet into the super election year with four more state elections and the federal election. The AfD is also dropping feathers and has lost a good third of its share of the vote.
In Stuttgart, the Greens Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann is the big winner. The 72-year-old can even improve the result for his party and, with 32.6 percent of the votes, firmly count on a third term. The clearly inferior coalition partner CDU with 24.1 percent has ambitions to continue the coalition. However, a traffic light is mathematically possible. Kretschmann has announced talks with all potential coalition partners.
Meanwhile, SPD election winner Malu Dreyer in Mainz spoke of a confirmation of the government's work so far. "I'm a happy person. We managed to reach our election target." Although the SPD also had to accept one of the worst election results in decades, with 35.7 percent of the vote, Dreyer's attempted continuation of the traffic light coalition of the SPD, FDP and the Greens is feasible. It is the only such alliance in Germany. Dreyer also sees this as a model for the federal government.
Naturally, the federal leaders of the Greens and the SPD cheered the results. "It's a great start to the election year," said Greens boss Robert Habeck. "Foresight and pragmatism" are now the task of the Greens as the entire federal party from this election evening. Co-party leader Annalena Baerbock said the long-lasting upward trend for the party had solidified again.
The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken sees Dreyer's election success as "a very big omen" for the federal election in September. "This is actually a tailor-made prelude to the super election year 2021, which we can experience today," she said. "The SPD showed today how to win elections." Esken said the motto of Dreyer and the Rhineland-Palatinate SPD "we with her" is now the motto for Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz. "As of tomorrow, 'we with him'". In Baden-Württemberg, where in the end it was a good eleven percent for the SPD, she praised the "very committed election campaign". One now has to wait and see what the formation of the government will result.
Meanwhile, CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak spoke of a bad election evening. "The really indecent behavior and the shamelessness of individual members of parliament has ensured that, especially now in the final phase, the election campaigners felt a tight wind in their faces," he said. There was also no mood of change in either country; during the crisis, people trusted the heads of government. And finally you can see "that the population's displeasure with the Corona policy is growing. That is why it is important for everyone to ask: Where can we get better?"
CSU General Secretary Markus Blume expressed himself in a similar way and called for the defeats to be seen as a "wake-up call". "The results are also a result of mistakes and misconduct in the federal government," he said. Quick successes are needed now in the fight against corona. "The strategy is not wrong, but the implementation is bad." At the same time he tried to put the Greens and FDP under pressure: The Greens would now have to clarify whether they want to orientate themselves bourgeoisie or left. The FDP, in turn, has to show its colors: "Does it want to be a green-red stirrup holder?"
FDP boss Christian Lindner sees the results as "confirmation of the independent course of the FDP". Nevertheless, it was a difficult election campaign. Corona has overlaid many innovation topics, he said. In the end, however, the liberals in Baden-Württemberg had the "best election result for decades". And the election results also improved in Rhineland-Palatinate. The FDP has been confirmed to government responsibility as well as the traffic lights.
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