On Sunday, 1.7 million Thuringians were called to vote in local elections. What do the results mean for the parties? What signals are citizens sending ahead of the eagerly awaited state elections on September 1st? By late Sunday evening, not all of the results were available, let alone a nationwide result.
However, it became apparent that the Thuringian AfD, which is classified as right-wing extremist has gained ground, but missed the hoped-for breakthrough. It failed to win district council offices and mayoral posts in the first round of voting. The feared “blue wave” of huge AfD victories thus failed to materialize.
However, run-off elections with AfD participation are looming in several regions. This means that the party of right-wing extremist Björn Höcke still has a chance of winning top municipal offices in the Free State.
Höcke wants to become the strongest force in the state elections on September 1. In the 2019 election, he came in second place with 23.4 percent. Recent polls indicate a loss of popularity for the AfD, first after the secret conference in Potsdam (“remigration”), and most recently after the various scandals involving the AfD’s top European candidates Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron.
In the district of Hildburghausen, neo-Nazi Tommy Frenck made it to the runoff election for the district administrator’s post. Frenck came second with 24.9 percent of the vote, just ahead of the CDU candidate. Sven Gregor (Free Voters) received 42.4 percent. The AfD did not run as a candidate.
Die Left of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelowwho has governed the state since 2014, did not manage to achieve a significant victory, according to the situation on Sunday evening. Party leader Ulrike Grosse-Röthig consoled herself with the lack of AfD successes, saying that Thuringia “did not turn blue overnight”.
Some of the Left Party members were in the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) Alliance, founded in January Ramelow has the problem that the state election is turning into a duel between Höcke and Mario Voigt (CDU), a brutal humiliation for an incumbent head of government. In the last state election poll, the Left Party is at only 16 percent, half of what it achieved in the 2019 election.
BSW only competed in individual districts
The BSW had already tried before Sunday to downplay the signal character of the local elections. The BSW had only run in individual districts and municipalities. “The result of the local elections will have no significance,” said Thuringian BSW state chairwoman Katja Wolf to the Tagesspiegel.
© dpa/Michael Reichel
Die opposition CDUwhich provided the Prime Minister from 1990 to 2014, is aiming for victory in the state elections. Its success in the mayoral election in Erfurt, where the head of the public order department, Andreas Horn (CDU), came first, should give it a boost. The leading candidate for the state elections, Mario Voigt, spoke of a “good day”. He referred to the victories of CDU candidates in the mayoral elections in Weimar, Suhl and Altenburg.
For the structurally weak SPD In Thuringia, election Sunday was not very pleasant. The party probably lost votes across the state. In the state capital Erfurt, the largest city in the state, the mayor Andreas Bausewein (SPD), who has been in power since 2006, suffered a defeat.
He only reached the runoff election as runner-up, after the head of the public order department, Andreas Horn (CDU). In 2018, Bausewein was still about eight percentage points ahead of the CDU candidate with 30 percent. The runoff election will take place in two weeks. A consolation prize for the comrades: In Schmalkalden, the citizens confirmed Mayor Thomas Kaminski (SPD) in the first round of voting.
SPD at 7 percent in state election poll
The SPD is at 7 percent in the latest state election poll. The leading candidate and Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) is considered solid, but has to live with the problem of a lack of prospects for power. Before the state election, SPD-leaning voters could decide to give their vote to the CDU in order to prevent Höcke’s AfD from becoming the strongest faction in the state parliament.
The same applies to supporters of the also historically weak Greenslike the SPD, is part of the Ramelow minority government. The Greens were able to achieve above-average results in the university cities of Erfurt and Jena. As of today, they have to worry about the five percent hurdle in the state elections. In 2019, they only just overcame it with 5.2 percent.
The FDP, which suffers from structural weakness in Thuringia, can at least point to the decent performance of Jena’s incumbent mayor, Thomas Nitsche (FDP). He came first in the first round of voting. On Sunday evening, after 133 of the 137 voting districts had been counted, Kathleen Lützkendorf (Greens) was considered the candidate for second place and a place in the runoff. A runoff election between FDP and Greens – has that ever happened?
Nationwide, the Liberals are likely to have lost votes compared to 2019, when they achieved 4.8 percent. As of today, their chances of entering the state parliament in September are minimal.
The latest state election poll puts the FDP at 2 percent. The Infratest Dimap institute no longer lists the FDP at all. Thuringia’s FDP is not financially supported by the federal FDP. Its state chairman, short-term Prime Minister Thomas Kemmerich, is at odds with the federal leadership.
Die other parties including numerous local groups, again achieved a comparatively high level of approval. In the 2019 local elections, they achieved 15.4 percent nationwide.