A week after a poor showing in Germany’s federal elections, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left party has won more than 30% of the vote, according to preliminary official results.
Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens look set to be able to continue their coalition in the northern state of Hamburg following a regional election Sunday.
According to preliminary official results, the SPD took 33.5% of the vote compared to 39.2% in 2020, but remained the largest party in Hamburg.
The center-right Christian Democrats (CDU)of chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz gained ground, coming in second with 20%. In the last state election, the CDU achieved 11.2%.
The Greens, who are already currently in a coalition with the SPD in Hamburg, came in third place at 18.5%.
Left Party secures 11% of the vote for 1st time in Hamburg
The socialist Left Party reached double digits, coming in at 11%, for the first time in Hamburg. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, also gained significantly, reaching 8%, compared to 5.3% at the last state election.
Voter turnout was higher for the election than the previous one in 2020, although the exact number has yet to be released. 1.32 million voters were eligible to cast their ballot.
Most of the focus in Sunday’s poll had been on how the outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD would fare in Hamburg after the party suffered its worst nationwide result in federal elections last week.
The conservative bloc comprised of the Christian Democrats and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) came out on top last week, with Scholz’s SPD only able to place in third behind the far-right Alternative for Germany.
Hamburg traditional stronghold for SPD
Hamburg has been led by a center-left coalition comprised of the SPD and the Greens for the last five years and pre-election polling predicted another majority for the alliance led by Social Democrat Mayor Peter Tschentscher.
Although Tschentscher is expected to win by a smaller margin this year, a day before polling opened, he said he was optimistic the SPD would be able to shake the poor national result, because of a long-standing support for his party in Hamburg.
“There is always an influence on state political decisions when the federal political situation is so complicated,” he added to dpa news agency.
At least 121 seats are up for grabs in the regional parliament in Hamburg, and just like in federal elections, parties need to secure at least 5% of the vote to enter parliament.
However, while in federal elections the voting age is 18, all citizens of Hamburg holding German citizenship are eligible to cast a ballot from the age of 16.
