Jens Spahn, parliamentary leader of the centrist coalition of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said that the results of the local elections in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, strengthen both the party's local structures in the province and Merz's federal coalition, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The election, Germany's last major vote of the year, was widely seen by observers as the first test of public opinion since the snap federal election in February that brought Merz's conservative government to power.
Initial estimates after the polls closed last night showed the center-right Christian Democratic Union in the lead, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) in second place, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) remaining in third place, but with a significant improvement in its performance.
„The strong result in North Rhine-Westphalia is a reward for good work on the ground. But it also represents a tailwind for the coalition in Berlin," Spahn said.
The state premier, Hendrik Wust, who is also from the CDU, expressed concern about the AfD's rise, as the far-right party tripled its share of the vote compared to the previous election five years ago.
"This result should give us food for thought and cannot allow us to rest - not even my party, which won these elections so convincingly," Wust told public broadcaster ADR.
SPD co-chairs Barbel Bass and Lars Klingbeil expressed disappointment with the results.
"It is true that we have not been able to stop the downward trend," Bass told regional public broadcaster VDE. "The results, of course, do not please me," she added, after initial estimates showed the SPD had won 22.6 percent of the vote in the entire state.
However, Bass said the results were not as disastrous as some had predicted before the election. She added that the far-right's good showing should be a cause for concern for all democratic parties.
The chairman of the Greens, Felix Banaszak, believes that his party's poor performance in local elections in Germany's most populous state is the result of a fundamental political change.
"Environmental, progressive politics are currently going through difficult times," Banaszak told regional public broadcaster We De Air.
He said the Greens it is now important to become a “credible alternative to this fundamental pressure for a rightward turn in society“.
According to preliminary results, “The Greens“ have suffered a significant defeat in the local elections and can expect 11.5% of the vote in the entire province. In 2020, the party achieved its best result in the local elections when it won 20%.
“This is a huge success for us“, wrote AfG co-chairman Tino Krupala on the social network “Ex“. "We are the people's party and we will take on our enormous responsibility for Germany," he added.
According to preliminary results, the AfD is winning 16.5% of the vote across the state, which is significantly higher than the result in 2020, when the party received 5.1%.