The CDU achieved a clear victory in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. With 35.7 percent, it is clearly the strongest force, well ahead of the SPD, which has achieved the worst result in its history. The FDP crashes, but makes it into the state parliament. Now it’s time for negotiations.
The official bottom line
6.41 p.m .: In view of the historically worst result of the SPD in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is said to have gotten into trouble behind the scenes from party chairman Lars Klingbeil. The “Spiegel” reports from an internal meeting of the party. Background: Shortly after the polling stations closed, Lauterbach reported his party’s result as a clear election defeat, while Klingbeil and General Secretary Kühnert continued to insist that several coalition options were possible – including a traffic light with the SPD at the top.
“We lost that election. The Union and the Greens won, so they have to conduct the talks first. Everything else comes after that,” said Lauterbach. SPD leader Klingbeil is said not to have been particularly pleased with this statement. It would be good if everyone in such an election adhered to the communication strategy that had been decided, Klingbeil was quoted as saying by participants in the meeting. “Also a federal minister”, he is said to have said verbatim, which was confirmed by several participants.
11:52 a.m .: The CDU election party at the Düsseldorf party headquarters received a visit from the regulatory office on Sunday evening – because the celebration was too loud. A city spokesman for the German Press Agency confirmed on Monday that “due to complaints from residents about noise pollution”, the public order office’s forces were deployed to the election party around 10:30 p.m.
“On site it was determined that the music was actually far too loud. Those responsible were instructed and asked to turn off the music,” said the spokesman. According to a spokeswoman, there had also been a complaint with the police about the volume. It was passed on to the responsible regulatory office.
After the surprisingly high forecast for the CDU at 6 p.m., the mood among the 400 guests of the CDU was already boisterous. When Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) came to the party tent at the party headquarters at around 10:15 p.m., he was celebrated with “Schalalala” chants. According to WDR, the music was sometimes turned so loud that the power went out. A little later the clerk came.
9.38 a.m .: After the success of the Greens in the North Rhine-Westphalian state elections, the Greens parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Katharina Dröge, showed no preference for a particular coalition. The Greens would now “speak to all democratic parties,” said Dröge on Deutschlandfunk on Monday. Topics such as climate protection and the turnaround in traffic are decisive. To the address of the CDU Prime Minister, she added: “Hendrik Wüst must definitely say goodbye to a policy that is based on slowing down the energy transition.”
Dröge said of the speculation about the future coalition in Düsseldorf: “We govern at state level in very different constellations. And in the end it really comes down to what you get out of negotiations.”
9.31 a.m .: Although a traffic light coalition is mathematically possible after the NRW state elections, the FDP top candidate Joachim Stamp is firmly assuming a coalition of CDU and Greens. When asked about the chances of a coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP, Stamp said on Monday morning on WDR 5: “The question doesn’t arise, it’s going to be black and green now.” ‘ said the Liberal. It would never do any good to rule out cooperation in principle. A traffic light is not up for debate, “because there will be black and green anyway”.
Monday, May 16, 2022, 6:55 a.m.: According to political scientist Karl-Rudolf Korte, the election result in North Rhine-Westphalia puts the traffic light coalition under pressure. “The traffic light has experienced a political earthquake,” said Korte of the German Press Agency. “The Greens triumphed with – one could say – second chancellor Baerbock, and the others lost massively. The traffic light is under a lot of pressure.” In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday, Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst’s CDU was clearly the strongest force.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the FDP only ever did well with outstanding personalities such as Jürgen Möllemann and Christian Lindner, said Korte, who is a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Otherwise, the FDP in NRW has always had a hard time. In addition, the market economy element in the federal government is currently not really visible.
The SPD, on the other hand, was unable to score points with its top candidate in North Rhine-Westphalia, Thomas Kutschaty. The cautious attitude of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Ukraine war is supported by many citizens, but Scholz lacks the “explanatory power” to let the SPD benefit from it. “There is no Scholz effect either in Kiel or in NRW,” said Korte. The SPD also did poorly in the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein a week ago.
Korte now expects a black-green government in NRW. He sees practically no chance of a traffic light coalition because the FDP would have to support the SPD candidate Kuchaty, while it had previously formed a coalition with the CDU prime minister, Wüst.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 11:03 p.m.: The nail-biter for the FDP and AfD is probably over. According to the current projection, both parties are well above the 5 percent hurdle. At the same time, Wüst’s lead at the top has grown slightly again. The CDU and SPD currently separate almost ten percentage points.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 10:55 p.m.: The AfD lost a significant number of votes in the NRW state elections in its strongholds in the Ruhr area. In constituencies such as Herne, Recklinghausen II, Oberhausen I and Duisburg II, it fell by up to four percentage points and slipped to less than 10 percent of the second vote. According to provisional information from the state returning officer, the party in Gelsenkirchen II and Duisburg III remained in the double digits, but recorded losses of more than four percentage points.
For the country, the projections saw the AfD at 5.6 or 5.7 percent in the evening. When it entered the NRW state parliament in 2017, the party had achieved 7.4 percent.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 10:36 p.m.: Greens top candidate Mona Neubaur got almost 27 percent of the first votes in her Düsseldorf I constituency. The state parliament mandate again went to the CDU candidate Olaf Lehne with 36 percent (2017: 41.8 percent). In the 2017 state election, the then Greens candidate in the constituency, Astrid Wiesendorf, only got 7.4 percent of the first votes.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 9:22 p.m.: SPD top candidate Thomas Kutschaty won his Essen I constituency by a wide margin. After counting almost all electoral districts, he received around 49 percent of the first votes, according to information on the website of the city of Essen. The CDU candidate Jessica Fuchs came to around 26 percent. In the state election five years ago, Kuchaty had achieved 45.4 percent.
Sunday 05/15/2022, percent. If confirmed, that would be the lowest since 1947. In 2000, voter turnout was comparatively low at 56.7 percent.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 8.40 p.m .: Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) won his Borken I constituency in the NRW state elections on Sunday. After counting more than two-thirds of the electoral districts, he was unassailable with around 62 percent of the first votes, according to data on the website of the district of Borken. In the 2017 state election, he got 52.9 percent.
At least between the AfD and the FDP, a head-to-head race for fourth place is looming. The extrapolation:
The FDP can breathe a sigh of relief. In the first districts, the postal voters are now counted. The FDP is now at 5.3 percent and thus more clearly ahead of the 5 percent hurdle than in the previous projections.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 6:16 p.m .: Numerous supporters of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia reacted to the first forecast figures on Sunday evening with huge cheers and applause for several minutes. The courtyard of the CDU state office was full to bursting. Many Christian Democrats cheered and hugged each other when the figures were announced. Top candidate and Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst initially stayed in his office, but wanted to speak at the CDU headquarters.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 6 p.m.: In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the CDU became the strongest force on Sunday. According to the 6 p.m. forecasts from ARD and ZDF, it was well ahead of the SPD. However, the previous CDU/FDP coalition no longer has a majority. The left no longer appears separately in the list, but falls under the others.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 5.45 p.m.: Another quarter of an hour! The first forecast will soon be available – and a first tendency as to how the head-to-head race between the CDU and SPD will turn out.
Sunday, May 15th, 2022, 5:09 p.m .: In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are signs of a slightly lower turnout than in the 2017 elections. By 4 p.m. it was 53.35 percent on average in eight selected districts and urban districts, as state returning officer Wolfgang Schellen announced on Sunday afternoon. He rated this as “moderate voter turnout”. In the 2017 state election, it was around 59 percent at that point.
The random survey was based on data from the districts of Düren and Gütersloh, the Rhine district of Neuss and the independent cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Cologne and Mülheim an der Ruhr.
At the end of election day in 2017, a turnout of 65.2 percent was recorded. In the state elections in NRW in 2022, 128 constituencies will vote. Polling stations close at 6 p.m.
You can read more about the state elections in NRW on the following pages.
More about the election in North Rhine-Westphalia:
The elections for the next state parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia will take place today. Here you will find everything you need to know about the state elections in a short and concise manner.
