The state elections in Lower Saxony are taking place in the midst of the great inflationary crisis. The SPD clearly wins, the FDP is thrown out of the state parliament. An ex-MP calls the traffic light “political rape of the FDP”. Here you will find all the important voices of the protagonists on the election result.
9:53 a.m .: The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz separates from the federal manager of the party, Stefan Hennewig. A corresponding report from the portal “The Pioneer” was confirmed to the German Press Agency on Monday by party circles. The 49-year-old was appointed in 2019 by the then CDU boss Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
As federal manager, the political scientist was a kind of head of administration in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. Merz and his general secretary Mario Czaja accused him of a lack of clout in the recent campaigns, writes “The Pioneer”. On Sunday, the CDU in Lower Saxony lost the state election with the worst result in decades.
According to information from “Bild”, the new man in office will be 59-year-old Christoph Hoppe.
Sattelberger wrote on Twitter: “My heart is bleeding. The traffic light coalition is a political rape of the FDP. But taming Red-Green was essential to keep the Republic safe from harm. Laschet was unthinkable at the time. But I would now put the coalition on tip and button, ”continued Sattelberger.
8:54 p.m .: The Greens chairman Omid Nouripour has appealed to the traffic light coalition partners to show unity to the outside world after the different performances in the Lower Saxony elections. “We have a relationship of trust within the coalition. I admit, sometimes it’s louder on stage than backstage. It shouldn’t be like that and vice versa. Everyone should take a look at their own noses,” he told Phoenix TV on Sunday evening.
“The bottom line is that the cooperation is good – despite all the differences that we have. Therefore, I assume that the responsibility that the traffic light coalition has assumed, which is really enormous in these times, will now continue to be accepted by everyone from all sides to the best of their knowledge and belief.”
8:42 p.m .: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) congratulated the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, on the election success. “The result speaks a clear language,” wrote Scholz on Sunday evening in the short message service Twitter. “Citizens trust you to plan ahead in Lower Saxony in the future.” Scholz explained that he was doing the same. “Lower Saxony stays in good hands.”
8:41 p.m .: Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) congratulated Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil on his electoral success. “Good choice in Lower Saxony. Congratulations to Stephan Weil,” Tschentscher tweeted. He spoke of a strong mandate for the SPD. “Dear Stephan, good luck in forming a government and we look forward to continued good cooperation in the north!”
8:22 p.m .: CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja is particularly concerned about the result of the AfD in the state elections in Lower Saxony and sees its cause in the work of the traffic light coalition and the SPD at the federal level. “The result of the AfD is bitter because it is above all a party that has no real answer to any social question that is now playing a role. They don’t have any answers to rising prices or the question of the energy crisis, but they benefit from the zigzag course of the federal government and the AfD result is largely the responsibility of the federal SPD,” says Czaja in an interview with the television station phoenix the state election.
8:15 p.m .: The first parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei, congratulated Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) on the election victory. “Stephan Weil obviously benefited from the fact that he clearly distanced himself from the federal SPD,” said the CDU politician on Sunday evening. He wished the election winner “a happy hand for Lower Saxony”. Weil did a good job – “also thanks to the CDU government participation” – and is popular with the population. Frei paid tribute to the defeated CDU top candidate Bernd Althusmann. He showed a special commitment during the election campaign.
8.10 p.m .: Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil promises a return to a red-green coalition in the state after the state elections. “If there is a basis for this, then what I said before the election also applies after the election,” said the SPD’s top candidate on Sunday evening on ARD. But Weil also emphasized that he wanted to wait for the preliminary official final result. Projections saw a narrow majority for the SPD and the Greens early on Sunday evening.
Before the election, Weil had spoken out in favor of a new edition of red-green. The SPD and CDU are currently governing in a grand coalition with Weil at the helm.
7.46 p.m .: After the poor performance in the state elections in Lower Saxony, the FDP wants to make a stronger impression in the traffic light coalition in the federal government. “The role and voice of the FDP in this coalition must be even more recognizable in the future than it has been up to now,” stressed General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai on Sunday in ARD’s “Berliner Runde”.
The traffic light coalition must talk, dealing with each other does not go on like this. Specifically, Djir-Sarai called the dispute over the debt brake. “A coalition will not work if two partners are constantly coming up with ideas on how to spend even more money and even more money and others have to constantly deal with the question of how to organize and finance the whole thing,” he emphasized. “In my view, for example, it will no longer work that way.” The FDP still has “big problems with this coalition”.
7.40 p.m .: The deputy CDU chairman Carsten Linnemann sees no mistakes by party leader Friedrich Merz in the Lower Saxony state election campaign. “If Friedrich Merz hadn’t been so committed, in my opinion, the result would have been worse,” he said on Sunday, referring to the CDU defeat in the state elections. In times of crisis, people vote for those in power. “Mr. Weil played this official bonus to the fullest, so congratulations.”
After its defeat in the 2021 federal election, the CDU has not yet reached its goal, said Linnemann, referring to the federal party. “We have to get to 30 percent quickly, it will take a while.”
7.30 p.m .: The Green politician Jürgen Trittin also attributes the good result of the AfD in the state elections in Lower Saxony to statements by the CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz. The AfD could thank Merz, said the former Federal Environment Minister on Sunday evening.
“His tirades against the admission of Russian conscientious objectors, his speeches about Ukrainian women above all as social tourists only had one effect,” said Trittin: “It didn’t help the democratic, right-centre parties, but the anti-democrats of the AfD. Then people ran to the original. And maybe you can learn from it on the part of the CDU. One should not make the right strong with such issues.”
Trittin celebrated the election result of the Greens. His party was the only one of the Berlin traffic light parties to win, he emphasized. The task now is to implement the energy transition more intensively.
7.20 p.m .: The Lower Saxony AfD top candidate Stefan Marzischewski-Drewes has made the policy of the Berlin traffic light coalition in the smoldering energy crisis responsible for the success of his party in the Lower Saxony state elections. “We deal with the facts, free of ideology. In the current energy crisis, the question is not whether nuclear energy is safe or unsafe, it is about preventing the blackout. People understood that,” said Marzischewski-Drewes on Sunday evening on ARD. His party received a lot of encouragement for it.
At the same time, he rejected allegations that his party was at odds. “We are no longer at odds. We’ve been closed since May – also at the federal level.” According to projections, the AfD was able to improve its result from 6.2 to over 11 percent.
7.14 p.m .: Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) praised the electoral success of the Social Democrats under Prime Minister Stephan Weil in Lower Saxony as “a strong result in difficult times”. “Stephan Weil worked on solving the problems with concrete proposals such as the energy price brake, while the CDU tried to use people’s worries and fears for election campaign purposes,” Schwesig explained on Sunday evening. The election shows that good and reliable government work pays off. She looks forward to further cooperation.
7.12 p.m .: With cheers, applause and confetti, the AfD attachment celebrated its own success in the state elections at the party’s election party in Isernhagen near Hanover. There was loud cheering on Sunday evening when the forecasts became known, but also for the poor performance of political opponents, especially the FDP. “It is not a tragedy when the FDP is thrown out of the state parliament, but a divine providence,” said Deputy Federal Chairman Stephan Brandner into the microphone. “A good Pils has 4.9 percent, that should be enough for the FDP.”
The state chairman of the AfD in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, also targeted the FDP at the election party. “If the FDP is kicked out, that’s the biggest victory for Germany.”
Older reports on the state elections in Lower Saxony can be found here.
