A new state parliament was elected today, October 9th, in Lower Saxony. SPD Prime Minister Stephan Weil clearly wins the election. The CDU loses more than five percent. The FDP flies out of the state parliament. All news about the Lower Saxony elections in the Newsticker.
This means that the SPD with 57 and the Greens with 24 seats together have an absolute majority. The CDU has 47 seats, followed by the AfD with 18 seats. Voter turnout was 60.3 percent. In 2017 it was still 63.1 percent, after 59.4 percent in 2013.
Monday, October 10, 12:17 a.m .: Fewer voters cast their votes in the state elections in Lower Saxony than in 2017. The turnout was 60.3 percent, as the preliminary result published on the Internet showed late Sunday evening. Five years earlier, the value was 63.1 percent – after 59.4 percent in 2013. The provisional result did not show what proportion of the turnout accounted for postal voters. The highest value so far was 84.4 percent in 1974, the lowest was found in 2008 with 57.1 percent.
11:45 p.m .: The SPD clearly won the state elections in Lower Saxony. After counting all constituencies and publishing the provisional result on Sunday evening on the Internet, the Social Democrats, with the incumbent Prime Minister Stephan Weil, received 33.4 percent of the votes. The CDU came second with 28.1 percent. This is followed by the Greens with 14.5 percent and the AfD with 10.9 percent. Both the FDP with 4.7 percent and the left with 2.7 percent miss out on entering the state parliament in Hanover.
11:37 p.m .: Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) defended his direct mandate in the state elections in Lower Saxony. With 49.0 percent, the deputy SPD state chairman received the most first votes in constituency 70 – Friesland, according to data from the state statistical office on Sunday evening. In the state elections in 2017, Lies won the direct mandate with 54.2 percent.
Lies has been a member of the state parliament since 2008. He was Minister of Economic Affairs between 2013 and 2017 and has been Minister for the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection since 2017. The Frieslander is married and has two children.
11:32 p.m .: CDU top candidate Bernd Althusmann won his constituency in Seevetal directly. He got 38 percent of the votes, as the State Statistical Office published on its website on Sunday evening. His SPD opponent Sabine Schulz-Rakowski came to 27.6 percent. Althusmann has been a member of the state parliament since 2017 and was also a member of the state parliament from 1994 to 2009.
11:27 p.m .: Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister and SPD top candidate Stephan Weil defended his direct mandate in the state elections in Lower Saxony. Weil won constituency 24 Hannover-Buchholz well ahead of his opponents with 44.2 percent, according to data from the State Statistical Office on Sunday evening on its website. In the state elections in 2017, the SPD politician won the direct mandate with 47.5 percent.
Weil has been a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament since 2013 and has been Prime Minister of the state for just as long.
11:20 p.m .: The Greens won several direct mandates in Lower Saxony for the first time in a state election. Top candidate Julia Willie Hamburg won the Hanover-Mitte constituency with 35.5 percent of the first votes, as the State Statistical Office published on its website on Sunday evening. In the city of Göttingen, Marie-Christine Kollenrott prevailed with 35.2 percent of the first votes. In Lüneburg, Pascal Mennen received 30.0 percent of the first votes for narrow success.
According to the projections, the Greens also increased significantly in the second votes and ended up with 14.6 percent after counting 83 of 87 constituencies. The party had its previous record in 2013 with 13.7 percent.
7:06 p.m .: After the defeat in the Lower Saxony election, the CDU state chairman and top candidate Bernd Althusmann announced his resignation. That’s what the election loser said on ARD. He wants to convene a state party conference after the autumn holidays and have his successor elected there.
6 p.m .: In the state elections in Lower Saxony, Prime Minister Stephan Weil’s SPD has again become the strongest force. According to the 6 p.m. forecasts from ARD and ZDF, the Social Democrats are ahead of the CDU with top candidate Bernd Althusmann, despite losses. This is the first forecast according to ARD:
Red-Green would have a majority.
5.30 p.m .: Shortly before the first forecast after the polling stations were closed, the 2017 election results as a reminder: the SPD (36.9 percent) had become the strongest force, followed by the CDU (33.6 percent), Greens (8.7 percent), FDP (7.5 percent) and AfD (6.2 percent). The left narrowly missed entering the state parliament in Hanover with 4.6 percent. Voter turnout was 63.1 percent.
5.15 p.m .: At 4.30 p.m. the participation in the state election was 48.30 percent, as the state election management announced. Five years earlier, the figure was 53.38 percent.
Lead candidates vote – fewer voters at noon than 2017
1.45 p.m .: With the best autumn weather, the Lower Saxony made their way to the polling stations on Sunday. At 12.30 p.m. the participation in the state election was 24.59 percent, as the state election management announced on Sunday. Five years earlier, the value was slightly higher at 26.91 percent. Polling stations are open until 6 p.m.
Postal voters, many of whom are expected this year, are not yet included in the interim results. Almost 6.1 million people are allowed to take part in the election. In the 2017 election, the turnout was 63.1 percent, after 59.4 percent in 2013. The highest figure so far was 84.4 percent in 1974, the lowest was recorded in 2008 with 57.1 percent.
Prime Minister Stephan Weil cast his vote in Hanover this morning. “We hope for a strong turnout. And we hope for a strong result for the SPD,” said the SPD politician. When asked what he was going to do now, he replied: “First of all, I’m going to have a nice breakfast.”
Challenger Bernd Althusmann had already toasted in the morning. “After all, my daughter turned twelve today, which means we had every reason to celebrate this morning,” said the CDU politician when voting in Südergellersen. It is now a matter of governing the country stably in a serious crisis. “That’s why I hope and I’m counting on a strong CDU, which I want to be the strongest force in Lower Saxony tonight from 6 p.m..”
11:01 a.m .: In the state elections in Lower Saxony, as many voters cast their votes on Sunday morning as they did five years ago. At 10 a.m., the turnout was 7.44 percent, as the state election management announced on Sunday. Five years earlier, the figure was 8.21 percent. Polling stations are open until 6 p.m.
Postal voters, many of whom are expected this year, are not yet included in the interim results. Almost 6.1 million people are allowed to take part in the election.
In the 2017 election, the turnout was 63.1 percent, after 59.4 percent in 2013. The highest figure so far was 84.4 percent in 1974, the lowest was recorded in 2008 with 57.1 percent.
Sunday, October 9th, 8.25 a.m .: Around 6.1 million Lower Saxony are called on Sunday to elect a new state parliament. The polling stations have been open since 8 a.m. and voting is possible until 6 p.m. The SPD and CDU are currently governing in a grand coalition led by Prime Minister Stephan Weil. The SPD politician is aiming for a third term, but hopes for a new edition of red-green. Weil had already led such an alliance from 2013 to 2017. CDU top candidate Bernd Althusmann, currently Economics Minister, does not rule out another grand coalition.
In the most recent polls, the SPD (31 to 32 percent) was just ahead of the CDU (27 to 30 percent), followed by the Greens (16 to 19 percent). The AfD (9 to 11 percent) could improve to a double-digit result, the FDP (5 percent) has to tremble about remaining in the state parliament in Hanover. The left (3 to 4 percent) was just below the five percent hurdle.
The all-determining issue in the election campaign was the energy crisis, which is why the Lower Saxony elections are also being watched with great excitement in Berlin. The CDU in particular also declared the election to be a vote on the crisis policy of the traffic light coalition in the federal government.
During the election campaign, the SPD relied heavily on Prime Minister Weil’s popularity ratings. In polls on the preferred prime minister – Weil or Althusmann – the SPD man was regularly well ahead of his challenger. Thanks in part to this official bonus, the polls for the SPD in Lower Saxony are significantly better than in the federal government.
However, a few days before the election, Weil had to put up with a setback when he chaired a federal-state summit on the energy crisis without a result – grist to the mill of the CDU, which accuses the federal government around Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of not having a clear plan to address energy concerns.
In the 2017 state elections, the SPD (36.9 percent) was the strongest force, followed by the CDU (33.6 percent), the Greens (8.7 percent), the FDP (7.5 percent) and the AfD (6.2 percent). . The left narrowly missed entering the state parliament in Hanover with 4.6 percent. Voter turnout was 63.1 percent.
It is unclear whether concerns about rising prices will particularly motivate voters to go to the polls this time, or whether they will be prevented from doing so. However, a higher proportion of postal votes than in the past state elections is expected. The state parliament is elected for five years.
You can read older news about the Lower Saxony elections on the next page
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