In the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein, the CDU won a clear victory.

The Christian Democrats led by Prime Minister Daniel Günther received 43.3 percent of the votes, according to the ZDF research group Wahlen, followed by the Greens around State Finance Minister Monika Heinold with 18.2 percent and the SPD with top candidate Thomas Losse-Müller with 15.8 percent .

The Social Democrats thus undercut their worst result in Schleswig-Holstein from 2005 by almost 10 percentage points.

At that time, the SPD got 25.4 percent.

Tatyana Heid

Deputy Editor-in-Chief for News and Politics Online.

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According to the Wahlen Research Group, the FDP, which currently governs with the CDU and Greens, has 6.4 percent - in 2017 it was 11.5 percent - while the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), which has been exempted from the five percent hurdle, has 5.9 percent.

The AfD has to worry about re-entering the state parliament, it currently has 4.6 percent.

At the CDU election party, Daniel Günther said the voters had made a "clear decision".

"The winner of the election is the CDU." That is a really "enormous vote of confidence" and also a "special result" for him.

This gives the government momentum.

He expressly thanked the coalition partners for the good cooperation.

Karin Prien, deputy federal chairwoman of the CDU, spoke of a "great day of joy" and a "huge success".

A modern and forward-looking CDU won this election.

CDU party leader Friedrich Merz congratulated via Twitter and wrote: "That gives tailwind for North Rhine-Westphalia!" In the most populous federal state, a new state parliament will be elected next Sunday.

The Greens Federal Chairwoman Ricarda Lang was also pleased.

She viewed her party's historic election results as confirmation of the Green government's work in the Jamaica coalition.

Lang defended the "course of independence" in the election campaign on ZDF, but one is available for further cooperation with the CDU.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) attributed Günther's success to the work of the Greens in the Jamaica coalition.

He campaigned on ZDF for a black-green coalition, even if black-yellow corresponded to "the normal political reflex".

The CDU will be "smart enough" to interpret the election result correctly.

On the other hand, the FDP federal chairman Christian Lindner campaigned for a black-yellow coalition in Kiel.

He said on ZDF that there is now a "middle class majority" in Schleswig-Holstein.

The fact that his party lost votes is also due to the fact that Wolfgang Kubicki – who was the FDP top candidate in Kiel five years ago – has meanwhile moved to Berlin.

"There were no state elections in Schleswig-Holstein today, but a Daniel Günther election.

That was a great electoral success," said Lindner on ARD.

Black-Green or Black-Yellow?

According to the extrapolation of the research group Wahlen, Günther can choose his coalition partner: Mathematically, a continuation of the Jamaica alliance would be possible, but it would also be enough for black-green and black-yellow.

According to the Wahlen research group, 44 percent of voters are in favor of black and green, while only 33 percent are in favor of black and yellow.

Accordingly, among the CDU voters there are more voters for a black-green coalition than for a black-yellow alliance.

Günther announced on ZDF that he wanted to hold talks with both the Greens and the FDP.

A coalition of CDU and SPD or CDU and SSW would also be mathematically possible, albeit politically improbable.

The SPD's lead candidate, Thomas Losse-Müller, said he was proud of how his party campaigned.

"In the end we didn't manage to set our topics." The media escalation to black-green or black-yellow in the past few weeks made it even more difficult.

The Schleswig-Holstein SPD member of the Bundestag Ralf Stegner called his party's election result a "debacle".

He said on ZDF that the result was not up to the federal party.

Losse-Müller had too little time to make himself known.

The SPD federal chairwoman Saskia Esken spoke on ZDF of a "bitter result".

The election result was "not expected" and was due to the prime minister's popularity.

The election result has nothing to do with the attitude of Olaf Scholz in the Ukraine war.

The Chancellor's policies are well received by the people of Schleswig-Holstein.

One is "very confident" for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.

A good 2.3 million people were eligible to vote in the northernmost federal state.

By the afternoon, turnout was similar to that seen five years ago.

According to the state returning officer, 54.7 percent of those entitled to vote cast their votes by 5 p.m., after 54.9 percent in the 2017 election.