Daniel Günther will continue to rule and will be able to choose his coalition partner at will
Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther was the architect this Sunday of an overwhelming Christian Democratic (CDU) victory in Germany’s most northerly states. Exit polls after the closing of the electoral colleges show that the CDU has won up to 43% of the vote and that Günther can continue to rule for another five years. The winners of the day were also The Greens, who have nearly 20% of the vote and have become the second regional force, well ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD). These put in more than 11 points from the 2017 election, narrowly exceeding 15% of the vote and have the worst result in their history in that region. The Liberal Party (FDP) is also among the losers in this election, having dropped nearly 5 points and only 7% support. The party representing the interests of the Danish ethnic minority (SSW) will also enter the Kiel parliament with 6% of the vote.
Outside that chamber, the Left, which has become a fringe formation, is far from the 5% needed to gain parliamentary representation, as well as the ultra-nationalists of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), who, according to polls by the two public television channels television are under the mandatory bar. Schleswig-Holstein is the first state in which the AfD populists and eurosceptics lose their seat. The result is balm for the Christian Democrats after last fall’s failure in the German general election, when they were overtaken by the Social Democrats and had to cede the Federal Chancellery to Olaf Scholz. The CDU had suffered another setback in March elections for the state of Saarland, where it lost power to the SPD after more than 20 years of dominance in that region.
With these results, the re-elected prime minister of the state with coasts on the two seas bathing Germany, the Baltic and the North Sea, has opened up every avenue to choose a coalition partner. For the past five years he has ruled in alliance with the Greens and the Liberals, with whom he will certainly establish separate contacts in the coming days to form the new executive, although now only one of those parties will be enough to form a parliamentary to achieve a majority. A pact with the party defending the interests of the Danish ethnic minority in that region, who mainly lives in the north of the state, along the border with neighboring Denmark, would also be possible. The conservative victory is the sole credit of Günther, a highly popular and much-loved 48-year-old politician, who has stood out for his effective management of the coronavirus pandemic. His win also makes him a serious candidate to lead the conservatives’ election campaign for the 2025 general election in Germany and a potential rival for current CDU president Friedrich Merz, in whom many see a temporary leader.
Source: La Verdad
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