State elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: SPD clearly wins

More than one million people elected a new state parliament in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Citizens voted overwhelmingly for the SPD and Prime Minister Manuela Schweig.

The SPD has apparently won the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania state elections, according to ZDF’s first predictions. Prime Minister Manuela Schweig’s party received 38.2 percent of the vote. “It was a wonderful evening for our country,” the SPD politician said in the evening in front of her party’s supporters.

The second strongest force was the AfD with 17.8 percent, and the CDU managed to convince 14.2 percent of the electorate. This is the worst result of the party in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The left once again returned to the state parliament. The party sees the extrapolation rate as 9.9%. The FDP and the Green Party create a surprise and are likely to also move to the state parliament. Greens are currently at 5.9 percent, and the FDP is at 6.0. The ARD projection sees greens at more than six percent.

Manuela Schwesig kept possible alliance options open for the evening. On Sunday in the ARD, Schwesig said party committees will discuss on Monday evening and see “with whom to talk.” There are three important points for the formation of the government in the future. On the one hand, there must be a “stable majority,” the SPD must be able to advance its causes, and “there must be reliable partners,” Schweizig said. More on this topic here.

The extrapolation result would theoretically suffice for the continuation of the alliance of red and black that has been in power since 2006. But even an alliance of the SPD and the left would have a slim majority in parliament. It will also be possible to form a so-called traffic lights coalition with the Free Democratic Party and the Green Party.

About 1.32 million eligible voters in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were invited to vote in the Bundestag and Landtag. According to the state election official, 455 candidates from 24 parties and nine individual candidates fielded for 71 seats in the state parliament.

In the last state election in 2016, 30.6 percent of voters voted for the SPD. The Alternative for Germany party managed to unite 20.8 percent of the vote. The CDU fell 19.0%, while 13.2% voted for the left. The Greens and the Free Democratic Party missed their entry into the Schwerin state parliament.