Social democracy endorsed its domain in Hamburg and beat the regional elections held in its historical bastion, a week after collapse suffered by Olaf Scholz’s game In German general elections. According to ZDF public television projections, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) obtained 35% of the votes. It is a fall of about four points compared to its results five years ago, but fifteen more than those of the conservative Cristianodemocrata (CDU) union, which remained something above that the greens, current partners of the SPD in the city-state.
“It’s a balm for us. Although The success is due to the mayor-governor Peter Tschentscher”, Admitted the general secretary of the SPD, Matthias Miersch, after jumping the first data. It will also correspond to Tspher to decide whether to reissue his coalition with the greens or if he opts for the CDU, since both constellations give him a comfortable majority.
The alternative ultra -rightist for Germany (AFD) was in fifth position with 8 %behind the SPD, CDU, Green and also The left, which rose to 11.5 %.
They are very different results from those of the national elections of a week ago, which the conservatives of Friedrich Merz won, with 28.6 %, followed by the AFD, with 20.8 %. Scholz’s social democrats sank to their historical minimum, with 16.4 %.
Hamburg, with 1.3 million voters, is considered a social democratic microcosm. In Germany it is often said that hamburgers ‘work differently’ and make their political decisions according to their own interests. It is an elitist ‘Land’, with the highest rentals in the whole country. But even there has begun to appear precariousness, which according to analysts has driven the vote on the left.
The regional elections are celebrated when at the national scaleThey raised the tanteo contacts to form coalition between the conservative block of Merz and the defeated Social Democrats. It is the only formula that will allow the conservative leader to rely on a parliamentary majority and, at the same time, keep the sanitary cord around the ultra -right, qualifiable party of Proruso and Trumpist.
Microcosm identified with the spd elite
After the sinking of his government between social democrats, green and liberals, Scholz considered to hold early elections in mid -March. That is, after the foreseeable support that would have received his party from Hamburg, an ‘Land’ identified with social democracy figures such as former chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982). Scholz himself was mayor-governor of the Hanseatic city before becoming Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of the last coalition of Angela Merkel.
Scholz’s strategy crashed into the rejection of the conservatives, who saw in it a dilatory maneuver. They argued that celebrating new elections was an urgent task and that neither Germany nor Europe could wait so long until the definition of the government. Finally, the date of February 23 was agreed.
The left, ‘shelter’ of the urban and young vote
Apart from the nationwide between the big games and the ultra -right It has relaunched as ‘refuge’ of the young vote, especially the urban.
In Hamburg he won two points and jumped at 11.5 %. More significant was his rise in the national elections last week. It rose to 8.8 %, compared to 4.9 %in 2021. At the national scale, it was the most voted party among young people between 18 and 24 years, with 27 %. In the previous general elections, the first place among young people went to the AFD.
Even more revealing were the results obtained by the left in Berlin in the national elections. It rose as a most voted force in the capital, with 21.8 % of the votes. The left is a party born of the fusion of postcommunism and social democratic dissent, which seemed condemned to die after the splitting of its ranks the pro -Russian line led by Sahra Wagenknecht.
Instead of that death announced, He has captured the electorate lost in Berlin districts where the greens always wonlike Kreuzberg. It is the only party that did not campaign with restrictive formulas in asylum policy, but focused its proposals on great concerns of the average citizen, such as housing scarcity at affordable prices.
His most veteran leaders, such as the founder Gregor Gysi, and the new dome or the head of his parliamentary group, Heidi Reichinnek, represent the mobilizations in defense of the ‘Brandmauer’ -or firewall, as the sanitary cordon is called in Germany.
