The result was surprisingly clear-cut: CDU won Sunday’s state election with an almost 5% lead (32%) against the ruling SPD (27.2%) under Minister President Torsten Albig. The Greens and the FDP (Free Democrats) obtained 12.9 % and 11.5 % respectively. The South Schleswig Party, SSW, lost slightly over 1% and ended up with 3.3% in the Landtag because the party is exempt from the 5% threshold. The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) picked up 5.9% of the vote, but achieved far from the desired result.
Thus the current coalition lacks the crucial votes to continue governing. Daniel Günther announced that he would begin discussions with the Liberals and the Greens about forming a so-called Jamaica coalition, alluding to Jamaica’s national flag. This model would be favoured by the Liberals, and the Greens under environment minister Robert Habeck have not discounted the possibility.
The Liberals have rejected a so-called traffic light coalition between the SPDs, the FDPs and the Greens under the Minister President Albig.
The Danish minority party, SSW, acknowledged the election defeat and will act as the opposition.
A major coalition has so far been rejected by both the CDU and SPD although Torsten Albig has left the door open.
The state elections have given rise to some disquiet among the SPD under its new Chairman and chancellor candidate Martin Schulz in terms of the Bundestag elections in September. This is the second time for the party to lose a state election and is now under pressure in North Rhine Westphalia whose election is next Sunday.
