“You have to be aware that the Chancellery is not keen on bringing success to the Greens and that is why an even clearer and tougher negotiating strategy is needed,” said Greens politician Anton Hofreiter of the German news agency in Berlin. “We must ensure that the compromises found are supported by all parties.” He told the “Handelsblatt” that his party should succeed in explaining better on the subject of climate protection.
The FDP, which barely got into the Bremen parliament, also wants to raise its profile. Federal Deputy Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki of the FDP told the dpa that his party should continue on the path it is on and become “much more prominent” in the Berlin traffic light coalition. Faced with the Greens’ demands for more climate protection in road traffic and heating, he said: “People can be confident that nonsensical proposals with the Free Democrats will not find a majority in the German Bundestag.”
The SPD had won the elections in Bremen by a large margin over the CDU. According to the official extrapolation of the state electorate from 12:30 p.m., the Social Democrats of Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte came to 29.9 percent. This allowed them to improve on their historically poor result from 2019 (24.9 percent).
A continuation of the previous red-green-red coalition would easily be possible – but Bovenschulte announced that he would talk about an alliance not only with the Greens and the Left, but also with the CDU. The election winner spoke of a “great result” for his SPD, who has been mayor for almost 80 years. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil saw “wind, also for us here in Berlin”.
The Christian Democrats fell slightly to 25.7 percent (2019: 26.7 percent). Party leader Frank Imhoff said his party was ready for exploratory talks with the SPD. “Of course we want to have a say.” CDU Vice Carsten Linnemann supports this and said “a restart for Bremen” is needed.
The extrapolation based on votes counted up to 12:30 p.m. is representative and the latest published Monday evening, a spokeswoman for the state election authority said. The extrapolations should continue on Monday morning from 10:30 am. The provisional official final result should be available after the tally on Wednesday (May 17). The count is long because of Bremen’s complicated electoral system. When voting, voters could tick up to five boxes.
According to the figures, the Greens came third with 11.7 percent, but with significant losses (2019: 17.4). Party leader Maike Schaefer spoke of a bitter result and said she was not afraid to take responsibility herself. However, the government coalition wants to continue.
Greens leader Omid Nouripour admitted there was “certainly no tailwind” from the Greens in the federal government. Quarrels over personnel policies and federal economics minister Robert Habeck’s controversial heating bill had recently joined the party. However, Nouripour stressed that his party “must not get into trouble” now.
Behind the Greens, the third coalition partner, the left, managed to stabilize with 11.2 percent (2019: 11.3). Dietmar Bartsch, the head of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said it was now important to use this momentum for the whole party. “A revitalized left is needed in Germany.” The top candidate and Bremen’s senator for economic affairs, Kristina Vogt, hoped for quick exploratory talks.
The right-wing populist voter association Bürger in Wut (BiW) made strong gains and won 9.6 percent of the vote (2019: 2.4). The right-wing populist BiW benefited from the fact that the AfD was not allowed because it had submitted two competing electoral lists. In 2019, she got 6.1 percent. The BiW is situated between the CDU and the AfD. Top candidate Piet Leidreiter said that BiW Realpolitik had always done well and had its own conservative bid.
The FDP just made it to parliament with 5.2 percent (2019: 5.9). Secretary-General Bijan Djir-Sarai said that was the main goal.
According to forecasts by ARD and ZDF, the SPD will get 28 seats in parliament. The CDU therefore has 24 to 25 seats, the Greens 10 to 11. The Left Party gets 10 mandates and the FDP 5. For the first time in parliamentary group strength, the BiW enters parliament with 9 seats.
In the smallest German state, the two-city state of Bremen and the smaller Bremerhaven, some 463,000 people were called to vote. The once wealthy Hanseatic city of Bremen, with its tradition of seafarers and merchants, has undergone profound structural changes and is now heavily indebted. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the proportion of civilian income recipients, formerly known as Hartz IV, is the highest at 17.1 percent in a comparison of the federal states, and Bremen also ranks last in the ranking of the best education systems according to the INSM Education Monitor 2022.
According to Bremen’s social services, the state has the highest percentage of people with a migration background among eligible voters at 17.8 percent – the national average is 11.5 percent. But the country is also a strong business location – with its ports, the second largest Mercedes factory in the world and aerospace companies. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
