The second slap, within a week, hurts much more than the first. The German Social Democrats suffered a resounding defeat in the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous region of Germany considered a “small federal republic”, and witnessed the second victory of the CDU, which had also triumphed last Sunday in Schleswig-Holstein.
The SPD electoral blow also brings up Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has been very present in the region in recent weeks, just to try to save the game. Among other things, the chancellor has been in the crosshairs of criticism for weeks for the too uncertain pace in the management of the war in Ukraine.
The results
In Duesseldorf, moreover, the Greens fly and the Liberals and the right lose. According to the first projections of the Zdf, the CDU obtained 35.4% (+2.4), the SPD 27.2% (-4.0), the Greens reached their local record with 18.2 % (+11.8), the liberals fell to 5.5% (-7.1) and the ultra-right of Afd fell to 5.5% (-1.9). Then continues the agony of Linke (left) who took only 2.1% (-2.8).
Of the governing parties, only the greens of Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock have established themselves, while the so-called traffic light comes out dented, due to the losses collected by Christian Lindner’s SPD and FDP who defined the result as “disastrous”.
New rising star CDU
The other interesting fact of these important administrative offices is the crowning of a promising young CDU, Hendrik Wuest, 46, who catalyzed the votes of the electorate after taking over in October 2021 at the helm of the land ceded to him by Armin Laschet. engaged in the challenge for the stationery.