Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party is set to win on Sunday, months before a national vote on who will replace her.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s south-central party is expected to suffer clear blows in two state elections to be held six months before a national vote that will decide who will succeed the country’s long-term leader.
Votes on Sunday for new state legislatures began in the southwestern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate election marathon culminating in a general vote on 26 September.
The Christian Democratic Union of Merkel (CDU) was already facing a rival challenge against two popular state governors from rival parties. Output opinion polls for ARD and ZDF television showed that these ruling parties – the environmentalists in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD) in Rhineland-Palatinate – were ready to finish first, about 8 percentage points ahead of the CDU.
The Greens won 31.5 percent of the vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the CDU 23 percent, down from the 27 percent he polled at the last state election in 2016, according to ZDF polls.
In nearby Rhineland-Palatinate, the SPD came first again with 33.5 per cent of the vote ahead of the CDU, which led there in opinion polls until last month but was expected to receive only 25.5 percent support in Sunday’s election.
These results, if confirmed, would be the worst CDU in post – World War II Germany in both states.
Amid frustration over the slow start of the German vaccine campaign against COVID-19, with coronavirus restrictions only gradually easing and infections recurring, the Merkel block was hit over the past two weeks. allegations surfaced that two legislators benefited from contracts to obtain masks early in the pandemic.
But Wolfgang Schaeuble, spokesman for the German parliament and heavyweight CDU tried to reduce the outcome of Sunday’s elections, arguing that the personalities of the rulers had been a definite feature in the elections.
“This is not a good afternoon for the CDU, but that was expected,” he said.
However, the polls sparked the first major test for Armin Laschet, the CDU’s new leader since his election in January, as the center-right is debating who should run to put Merkel at bay. instead as chancellor.
Laschet says he and Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union and governor of Bavaria who is another major contender to run for chancellor, will decide on the center-right candidate to succeed with Merkel in April or in May. Soeder has gained status through the pandemic.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany’s only Green party governor Winfried Kretschmann has been popular with centrist voters in 10 years running an area that is home to Daimler and Porsche makers.
The CDU controlled the region for a long time until Kretschmann seized power shortly after the Fukushima reactor disaster in 2011, which accelerated the end of nuclear power in Germany.
Kretschmann, 72, a father figure with a conservative image, appears on Green election posters with the slogan “You know me”. That was Merkel’s slogan that was once famous in a pre-election debate to reinforce her own claim that was largely without ideology.
The success of the Greens there at the moment is an optimistic sign for the national election campaign, in which the remaining environmentalist party will traditionally expect their first bid for the chancel. Merkel is not seeking a fifth term after nearly 16 years in power.
Meanwhile, the SPD has ruled Rhineland-Palatinate for 30 years – currently under Governor Malu Dreyer, whose personal commitment has kept her party’s support above its depressing national standards.