Bundestag election in Hesse: victim of the success of his party

At first very exciting, then as tough as chewing gum.

This is how the election evening went in Wiesbaden and the neighboring Rheingau-Taunus district.

At the end of a long trembling game, the two CDU members of the Bundestag, Ingmar Jung and Klaus-Peter Willsch, were able to defend their direct mandates from SPD rivals Nadine Ruf and Martin Rabanus.

For Jung it was only 20 minutes before midnight that he was certain that he had crossed the finish line with 627 votes more than Nadine Ruf.

Willsch even had to wait until 1:31 a.m. for the preliminary final result.

However, in the - now former - CDU stronghold of Rheingau-Taunus, he could count on a victory a little earlier than Jung.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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Particularly noteworthy: While it was not enough for Ruf personally, the SPD in Wiesbaden clearly outperformed the CDU with 24.9 to 21.1 percent in the second vote.

In the Rheingau-Taunus-Limburg constituency, the CDU was just ahead of the game with 707 second votes (0.4 percentage points).

But it was only the voters in the old district of Limburg who saved Willsch's mandate and secured the CDU's podium.

Because in the Rheingau-Taunus, Rabanus sensationally beat Willsch, and the SPD became the strongest political force for the first time with 26 to 24.5 percent of the second votes.

If a manageable number of the Greens voters had used their first vote tactically, both Willsch and Jung could have lost the direct mandate.

All other SPD list candidates came away empty-handed

So the triumph of the SPD with 14 constituencies won across Hesse turned into a painful disappointment for Rabanus and Ruf. Rabanus lost the parliamentary mandate he won for the first time in 2013 because this time only Kaweh Mansoori from Frankfurt made it into the Bundestag via the SPD state list. All other SPD list candidates came away empty-handed, including the Wiesbaden city councilor Nadine Ruf (tenth place).

On Monday, Mansoori called it a “downer, that the SPD will not have any MPs in the far west of Hesse despite strong growth”.

Ruf is "totally disappointed" with her personal result, even if she had corresponding fears after the first projections.

Now Ruf is tormented by questions like: “Could I have done more?” And would it have been better if she had exchanged the SPD portrait election poster, which was criticized by many voters?

"That's the political business: what do you want to do?"

Rabanus also called his result “bitter”, but “that's the political business: What do you want to do?” Rabanus would have liked to have helped shape the politics of the new federal government. Instead, he now has to close his offices in Berlin and Taunusstein. He doesn't have a “plan B”: he played to win, but in the end he lost his seat, he says with a good dose of sarcasm. Politically, he is happy about the result of his party. It shows "that the CDU belongs in the opposition".

The hopeful of the Wiesbaden Greens, Petra Jeromin, recognized early on that eleventh place on the Greens list, which was initially considered promising, would not be enough for a mandate. Only the first eight on the list go to Berlin. Less than 15 percent nationwide were simply not enough, said a disappointed career changer Jeromin, who now wants to digest the result on vacation. It won't be possible in a day. She wants to stay true to her topic, sustainable finance, but outside of politics. The Wiesbaden constituency candidate of the Greens, Uta Brehm, achieved a good first vote result with 19.2 percent, but, contrary to her hopes, she was unable to intervene in the duel between young and reputation.

For her party friend Anna Lührmann, who appeared in the Rheingau-Taunus district, on the other hand, fourth place on the list was, as expected, sufficient.

The district association expressed its great satisfaction with the "greatest gains of all parties in the district".

Lührmann announced that it was time to implement “green content” in Berlin.

"If my party's participation in government is possible, I will work to ensure that the issues of climate protection, social justice and the promotion of democracy are of central importance." Alexander Müller (FDP) from Niedernhausen, who is fourth on the state list, is also a returnee to the Bundestag was.

This means that the district and the state capital are sending four MPs to Berlin.

Bitter result for the CDU

After the first forecasts were made, the CDU MP Jung had almost finished his career in Berlin and expected the loss of his mandate because, according to his experience, the CDU in Wiesbaden has no chance if it is behind nationwide. On Monday, Jung was all the more relieved and happy to have done 5.2 points better than the party and thus against the trend, while the CDU lagged 3.8 points behind the SPD in the second vote.

In the Rheingau-Taunus district, Willsch speaks of a bitter result for the CDU and called it sobering that this result can obviously hardly be influenced by committed constituency work.

In Berlin, Willsch can currently hardly imagine the CDU participating in the government.

Voters wanted to admit defeat rather than insistence on power.

Willsch hardly sees a way for the CDU to “counter” a traffic light coalition.

In his opinion, this would only be possible if his party showed greater concession to the Greens than the SPD would admit - with the consequence of a further loss of profile for the CDU.