HAMBURG - About the election results 23 02 20

My special comments today will deal with the election in Hamburg yesterday. Though the official and very final result is not yet totally ready ( counting is still happening in a couple of places ), we know the key result.  A few days ago I described the main themes in the election.

The Hamburg Parliament ( "Bürgerschaft" ) has 121 members. So a majority is at least 62 seats.
The results are:
1. SPD continues to be the biggest party and has got 39,0 % of the votes - and 51 seats.  A loss of 7 seats.
2. CDU got 11,2 % - and 14 seats. A loss of 6.
3. The Greens got 24,2 % and 31 seats. A gain of 16.
4. Die Linke got 9,5 % and 12 seats.  Gain: 1 seat
5. FDP has got 4,9 % and 9 seats. A loss of 9.
6. AfD got 5,3 % and 7 seats. A loss of 1.

The turn-out:  63,3 %  ( in 2015:  56,5 % ).

The six most important conclusions from the election are:
1. The present government coalition SPD + The Green has been strengthened with 9 mandates has now has 82 ( out of 121 ).  They are expected to continue. That is also what they declared before the election, if they won.
2. CDU continues to have problems, and from the party headquarters in Berlin it was also last night said that the result was very unsatisfactory.
3. FDP seems to be right at the limit of 5 %. Actually, the party is at the moment only 121 votes over the limit.  A recount in an elections district is under way and might mean that FDP will have no seats.
4. AfD only just reached the necessary votes to continue in the Bürgerschaft.  The media report this morning that serious discussions take place inside the party on why the election result was not better. And a split in the party group cannot be excluded.
5.  Europe was not at all an issue in the election campaign.
6. When national politics in Germany is concerned the Hamburg results are in particular worrying for CDU and for FDP. They both Refer to the ongoing troubles in Thüringen, where both parties have ran into trouble because of the way they have handled the present government negotiations there.  Voters notice that and react.   Inside SPD some voices also suggest that the party in the future should Work more with the Greens than with CDU as at present. 

As mentioned earlier Germany has 16 Länder, Hamburg being one of them. And there are no more elections this year. But next year - in 2021 - five Länder elections will take place.  And federal elections will probably be held in the autumn of next year.  I will, of course, follow it all here in my daily comments.

So the German political parties have the rest of this year to get their act together and get ready to meet the voters in 2021.  
The federal government has the pleasure of being president of the EU in the second haft of this year.

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