The CDU did much worse in the Bundestag election on Sunday in the Rhine-Main area than four years ago.

Of the 15 constituencies of the Rhine-Main area, which were all won by the Union in 2017, nine go to the SPD and one to the Greens, according to the interim results as of 10 p.m., while the CDU can only defend five.

Manfred Koehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and editor-in-chief of the business magazine Metropol.

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After the count was around 9 p.m., she lost eight percentage points in the Offenbach constituency and only got 22 percent. In the Groß-Gerau constituency, it slipped from 31 to 21 percent. In the constituency of Darmstadt it even fell to 18 percent after 27 percent four years ago. Conversely, the SPD and the Greens were both able to gain, in the Offenbach constituency, for example, to 26 and 17 percent, in the Darmstadt constituency to 26 and 22 percent. This corresponds to increases of between four and nine percentage points. The FDP was able to slightly increase its share of the vote in these constituencies with 13 and 12 percent.

The shifts in the two larger parties also have consequences for the question of who represents the constituencies in the Bundestag. In the constituency of Darmstadt, which also includes the surrounding area, Andreas Larem (SPD) has prevailed. At around 9 p.m. he received 27.2 percent of the first votes. In second place was Daniela Wagner (The Greens) with 23.6 percent, while the CDU candidate Astrid Mannes only got 22.4 percent. She won the constituency mandate for the CDU in 2017.

In the Groß-Gerau constituency, the SPD candidate Melanie Wegling was last with 33.6 percent, ahead of Stefan Sauer (CDU), who came to 27.3 percent. He had just won the constituency in 2017. On the other hand, the result in the Offenbach constituency will be close. At around 9 p.m., CDU candidate Björn Simon was only slightly ahead of his SPD competitor, Tuna Firat, with 27.6 percent, with 26.4 percent. The two competed against each other in 2017, when the Christian Democrat Simon prevailed against Firat.

The constituency of Mainz will be represented by the 26-year-old Daniel Baldy.

After counting almost all electoral districts, he got 24.7 percent of the first votes, while the CDU candidate Ursula Groden-Kranich, who had previously represented the constituency, received only 23.3 percent.

Most recently, the SPD acquired this constituency, which stretches along the Rhine and also includes parts of the Mainz-Bingen district, 16 years ago.

Faeser sees "great success"

All in all, it looks like the SPD has won around half of the constituencies of the Rhine-Main area, which fell to the Union in 2017. The state chairwoman of the Hessian SPD, Nancy Faeser, described the result of the federal election as a “great success” for her party and its candidate for chancellor. The people in Germany wanted an SPD-led federal government with a Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The party has proven in the past weeks and months that a clear future program and a credible, experienced candidate for chancellor will lead to success. “Everyone who wrote us off in the past few months was wrong.” The ideas and ideals of social democracy are needed more than ever in the 21st century.

The Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) reiterated the position that the second strongest force could attempt to form a government. "That is the constitutional situation and it was the same with Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt," he told the FFH broadcaster. The Union politician sees the politicians in Berlin facing “demanding talks”. But he was confident that a Jamaica alliance could be formed. “We are ready to hold the talks.” Bouffier, who is also the deputy federal chairman, was satisfied that it had apparently been possible to prevent a red-green-red alliance.

For the FDP, the state chairwoman Bettina Stark-Watzinger spoke of a "very good day".

The party had been rewarded for a strong, constructive opposition policy and a very committed election campaign.

"Today's result lays the foundation for the months and years to come, because the work continues for us Free Democrats."

Most recently 50 MPs from Hesse

The Hessian Greens were delighted with "the best federal result of all time".

The two state chairmen, Sigrid Erfurth and Philip Krämer, also stated that their result was "undoubtedly not as good as hoped".

They see their party "in a strong starting position" for the upcoming exploratory and coalition negotiations.

Only with the Greens will there be “real climate protection, social balance and a new social awakening” in the federal government.

The Hessian state association of the AfD was "quite satisfied" with the result.

It proves “that we now have a solid core electorate,” said co-chairman Klaus Herrmann.

"We will oppose the shift to the left that the other parties from the CDU to the Greens are preparing with all our might."

In Hesse, 23 state lists of parties were admitted to the Bundestag election.

Most recently, 50 MPs from Hesse sat in the parliament in Berlin: 17 MPs from the CDU, 12 from the SPD, 6 from the AfD, 6 from the FDP, 5 from the Greens and 4 from the Left Party.