A new state parliament will be elected in Lower Saxony on October 9th. SPD Prime Minister Stephan Weil leads in election polls just ahead of his CDU coalition partner Bernd Althusmann. There will probably not be a new Gro-Ko. All news about the Lower Saxony elections in the Newsticker.
10.16 a.m .: Shortly before the state elections in Lower Saxony next Sunday, the SPD, CDU and FDP spoke out in favor of new natural gas drilling in the North Sea off Borkum. This is shown by a survey conducted by the German Environmental Aid (DUH) among the top candidates. None of the three parties mentioned wanted to give a date for the end of the existing natural gas production in Lower Saxony. They cite the current gas shortage as justification for new fossil fuel production plans.
From the point of view of the DUH, this is absolute window dressing, since actual funding could start at the end of 2024 at the earliest. By then, measures such as the expansion of renewable energies and energy savings must have taken effect long ago in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and not further jeopardize the climate goals. Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and DIE LINKE are distancing themselves from planned drilling off Borkum and are in favor of phasing out the existing natural gas production by 2035 and 2030.
Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Federal Managing Director of the DUH: “The fossil age threatens to experience a renaissance in Lower Saxony: In addition to the LNG terminals, new natural gas wells are also on the agenda. The election on Sunday must become a climate election. This is the only way to end the appalling complacency of some parties in the face of record heat, drought and flooding. And it is not only the climate that is threatened by the subsidy plans in front of Borkum. The construction of the pipeline to transport the gas, the power lines and the platform alone will destroy 30 hectares of mudflats. The drilling poses a risk of earthquakes and subsidence in the Wadden Sea. Noise and light pollution also endanger flora and fauna and impair fish migration. Stopping this project immediately is the only reasonable option.”
Against the background of the Russian war of aggression, the intensification of domestic natural gas production is increasingly being pushed by companies. The Dutch company ONE Dyas B.V. together with Hansa Hydrocarbons Ltd. and Neptune Germany B.V. Drilling for natural gas in the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony. This is intended to produce cross-border natural gas in the North Sea from the end of 2024. This project comes too late for energy security and the current gas shortage. The DUH, together with the Dutch environmental organization Mobilization for the Environment and the citizens’ initiative Clean Air for East Friesland, have already filed a lawsuit against a permit on the Dutch side.
The promotion of natural gas on the mainland of Lower Saxony is also up for debate. For this, however, the highly controversial method of unconventional fracking would have to be used, which has so far been banned in Germany. In the DUH survey, only the FDP advocates reconsidering the ban.
Constantin Zerger, Head of Energy and Climate Protection at DUH: “Fortunately, almost all parties are clearly against fracking: Only the FDP does not want to rule out the approval of unconventional fracking. This method makes just as little a contribution to the upcoming winter as natural gas production in the Wadden Sea.
On the contrary, it harbors immense dangers: The consequences could be toxic substances in soil and water, earthquakes and additional methane emissions. The process itself also wastes valuable resources, with the high demand for water, for example, putting a strain on a region’s entire water cycle. Regardless of the type of fossil extraction involved, the costly and risky extraction processes delay important investments in renewable energies and energy savings.”
Tuesday, October 4th, 2022, 9:28 a.m .: A new state parliament will be elected in Lower Saxony on October 9th. The most important top candidates of the parties for the state election can be found here:
October 9th – State elections in Lower Saxony: The top candidates at a glance
Monday, October 03, 2022, 7:55 p.m.: According to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), Lower Saxony is the key to the transformation of industry in Germany. Habeck said that on Monday evening at a campaign event for his party in Hanover. Lower Saxony, for example, is a focus of agriculture and, with its coasts and mountains, is a fantastic region for renewable energies. According to party information, around 600 people followed the event on site.
With a view to the state elections on October 9, the minister said: “In the end, it’s not about the Greens winning the election, as much as I wish my party would. In the end, it’s about this society, this country, Germany and Europe emerging stronger from this time.” The categories of values shouldn’t slip.
The Greens can hope for their best result so far in a state election in Lower Saxony and for participation in the government. Red-Green is the preferred coalition of Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD). In this constellation he had governed in his first term. In the legislative period that is about to end, he will rule together with the CDU.
12.19 p.m .: A week before the state elections in Lower Saxony, the FDP breaks away from the CDU and campaigns aggressively for second votes in the middle-class camp. “Bernd Althusmann will not become prime minister. I even think it is very likely that the CDU will leave the state government,” said the Secretary General of the state FDP, Konstantin Kuhle, on Friday of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
“Now the question is which government coalition in Lower Saxony will take over the design,” Kuhle continued. “I realize that there are many people who, in this difficult situation, would like a voice for economic reason, for a sound financial policy, against cold progression, for a certain pragmatism in energy policy. You have to tell these people that every vote for the CDU is a vote that ends up in the opposition.” Therefore: “Now it’s the second vote for the FDP that matters.”
Kuhle referred to the ZDF “political barometer” from Friday, in which Prime Minister Stephan Weil’s SPD is 32 percent and the CDU under its top candidate Bernd Althusmann is 27 percent. The Greens get 16 percent. With 5 percent, the FDP has to worry about returning to the state parliament. However, Kuhle assumes that the Liberals will get over the five percent hurdle.
“The question now is: Does Lower Saxony get a left-wing state government or does it get a state government from the center,” said Kuhle, who is also vice-chairman of the FDP parliamentary group. According to the latest survey, it is enough for red-green. But: “Lower Saxony is a state of narrow majorities. It is not certain that Red-Green will get a majority. That can happen. But a vote for the CDU cannot change that.”
Friday, September 26, 2022, 7:32 a.m .: According to a new survey, the SPD around Prime Minister Stephan Weil is still just ahead of the CDU a few days before the state elections in Lower Saxony. In the ARD pre-election poll published on Thursday evening, the Social Democrats came to 32 percent, the coalition partner CDU with Weil challenger Bernd Althusmann to 30 percent. The SPD thus remains at the level of the previous week, while the CDU can gain two percentage points.
According to the figures, the Greens lose one percentage point and come to 16 percent, the FDP still has to worry about entering the state parliament with 5 percent. The AfD remains unchanged at 9 percent, the left would not move into the state parliament with 3 percent.
The state election is on October 9th. The SPD and CDU are currently governing in a grand coalition in Lower Saxony. A continuation of the alliance is considered unlikely. In the 2017 election, the SPD was the strongest party with 36.9 percent, followed by the CDU (33.6 percent), the Greens (8.7 percent), the FDP (7.5 percent) and the AfD (6.2 percent).
Election polls are generally subject to uncertainties. Among other things, declining party ties and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it difficult for the opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, surveys only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey and are not a forecast of the outcome of the election.
Monday, September 26, 2022, 10:10 a.m.: Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil is demanding that the federal government effectively curb the sharp rise in energy prices in the coming weeks. “I expect the gas price cap to be in place in October,” said Weil of “Bild am Sonntag”. The price cap for gas – and also for electricity – should apply to both private households and the economy, he said.
In addition, Weil called for an effective “bundle of aid programs like Corona”. It is clear that this will cost money, so much so that the debt brake will not be able to be complied with. “But if we let the companies go bankrupt, it will end up being very bitter for many and much more expensive for the public purse.”
The debt brake anchored in the Basic Law stipulates that the federal and state governments must always balance their budgets without loans. Above all, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his FDP insist on strict compliance with the rule, which was suspended for three years in the federal government due to Corona, from 2023.
Weil, who is applying for a third term in the state elections on October 9, referred to the time pressure for citizens in this country: “Most private contracts with suppliers run until the end of the year, people need clarity quickly.”
Thursday, September 22, 2022, 7:45 a.m.: A good two weeks before the state elections in Lower Saxony, the SPD is still ahead of its current coalition partner, the CDU, in a survey. If elected on Sunday, the Social Democrats would get 32 percent of the votes, according to a new study by the opinion research institute infratest dimap commissioned by NDR. The SPD rose in favor with voters by one percentage point compared to the same survey in August, as did the CDU, which would therefore come to 28 percent. In Lower Saxony there will be elections on Sunday, October 9th.
The Greens lose two percentage points and would come to 17 percent. The FDP would just about make it into the state parliament with 5 percent (minus 1), the AfD improved by two percentage points to 9 percent. The left would not be represented in the state parliament with 4 percent (unchanged).
This would allow the existing grand coalition of SPD and CDU to continue. However, this is considered unlikely, since Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is campaigning aggressively for a new edition of red-green. After the 2013 election, Weil led a red-green coalition, although the SPD was more than three percentage points behind the CDU at the time. More than 1,000 eligible voters were interviewed for the representative survey, as reported by the NDR on Thursday.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022, 11:50 a.m .: The Lower Saxony FDP top candidate Stefan Birkner is relaxed about conducting an election campaign against the policies of his brother-in-law, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck from the Greens. “In the political debate he has his role, I have my role. That’s a professional approach,” said the FDP state and parliamentary group leader to the “Spiegel”. “That’s why I don’t hold back from criticizing his policies as Federal Minister of Economics and he probably doesn’t do it either when it comes to my positions.” In Lower Saxony, a new state parliament will be elected on October 9th. In the 2017 election, the FDP achieved 7.5 percent of the votes.
According to the report, the wife of FDP man Birkner is the sister of the wife of the Federal Minister of Economics, so the relationship as a brother-in-law has existed for 26 years. “Regardless of the fact that Robert Habeck and I are related by marriage, know and appreciate each other, I just think it’s good policy in politics not to attack and hurt each other personally. I want to continue to do it that way, including when dealing with Robert Habeck,” stressed Birkner.
The FDP man criticized Habeck’s plan not to take the plant in Lingen, Lower Saxony, out of the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany as a reserve for the coming winter. “In this phase, when energy prices are rising and we are reducing our dependency on Russian gas, we still need the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany to be connected to the grid – including the one in Lingen in Lower Saxony.” Birkner did not rule out Habeck’s nuclear reserve plan could reconsider.
