Preliminary results indicate that Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is set to come in first with 30.9 percent of the vote, taking control of the state premiership from the SPD after 35 years in opposition. Results as of 8.30 p.m. suggest the SPD’s vote share collapsed by around 10 percentage points, to 25.8 percent.
“This is historic for us,” Jens Spahn, the CDU’s parliamentary group leader in Berlin, told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday. “It gives us in the CDU a boost at the federal level. But of course, the credit goes above all to our colleagues on the ground,” he added.
The CDU’s lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, Gordon Schnieder, pointed to a combative campaign. “We had that will to win; I’ve felt it over the past few months,” Gordon Schnieder said on ARD television.
But the biggest winner in terms of vote-share gained is the far-right AfD, which more than doubled its support to 19.8 percent compared with the last state election five years ago when it got 8.3 percent of the vote. The strong showing comes after the AfD’s third-place performance in a state election in Baden-Württemberg earlier this month, illustrating how the party has been able to gain ground outside its eastern strongholds. The outcome in Rhineland-Palatinate is the AfD’s best-ever result in a western German state.
The election in Rhineland-Palatinate was the second of five state races to be held this year in what Germans are calling a Superwahljahr — or “super election year” — that is seen as a key test of the national mood as the AfD seeks to overtake Merz’s conservatives in national polls. The AfD is on track to secure big victories in two eastern states in votes set for September, according to polls.
“We have achieved record results,” Alice Weidel, one of the AfD’s national leaders, said on Sunday. “Voters appreciate the work we’ve done as opposition party, and we will continue on this path so that we can join the government in the next election,” she added.