Hamburg election: SPD takes early lead, far-right AfD could leave first state parliament
The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) are on track for a decisive win in Hamburg, with early results from Sunday’s election indicating that the party will maintain its leadership in the northern German city-state.
Initial projections released by public broadcaster ARD just after polls closed showed the SPD winning 37.5% of the vote.
Support for the environmentalist Greens surged, putting them in second place with 25.5%, followed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) falling to 11.5%.
The Left party is on track to secure 9% of the vote, followed by the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) with 5%.
In the largest upset of the night, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could potentially drop out of its first state parliament, with early results showing the party securing 4.7% of the vote — falling just shy of the 5% hurdle to enter parliament.
Voter turnout surged compared to the last election, with local election officials reporting 62% turnout. During the vote in 2015, turnout was 56.5%.
Hamburg votes amid political turmoil
Around 1.3 million people were eligible to vote on Sunday in the first state election since the furor over the ousting of the socialist Left party state premier in the central state of Thuringia, which spurred accusations that left and centrist parties had cooperated for the first time with the AfD.
The controversy forced the newly elected state premier to resign within a day of taking office, and indirectly caused Chancellor Merkel’s chosen successor to step down.
The vote in Hamburg also follows a right-wing extremist attack in the city of Hanau this week, where a gunman opened fire on two hookah bars, killing nine people — the majority of whom were of foreign descent.
The shooting increased pressure on the anti-immigration AfD, which regularly comes under fire for its xenophobic rhetoric.
Unlike several German states where the AfD is a major political force, the far-right party has just 6% support in Hamburg.
Read more: DW exclusive: How German companies donate secret money to political parties
SPD looking for a boost
Farid Müller, the Greens’ lead candidate in the Hamburg-Mitte district, told Politico that public outrage over the ousting of Thuringia’s leftist state premier Bodo Ramelow, with the help of the far-right AfD, swayed voters to back the SPD.
“The situation in the state parliament in Thuringia was, for the whole country, a shock,” said Müller. “In this situation, a lot of people return to the old parties, like the Social Democrats.”
AfD controversy widely felt
A win in the northern German city-state would also likely give the SPD a much-needed boost on the national level, where they have been losing overall support to the Greens. National support for the party is hovering at just 15%.
“We have to hold our ground against the federal trend,” SPD lead candidate and incumbent Hamburg mayor Peter Tschentscher told the news agency AFP ahead of the vote.
The SPD has also garnered local favor by supporting green policies like a proposal to convert a coal power plant to a natural gas plant to cut greenhouse emissions, and by pushing for lower rents and free daycare in the city.
Fifteen parties are competing for the 121 seats in the Hamburg parliament. Polls close at 6 p.m. local time (1700 UTC) on Sunday, with the first results due shortly after.
Other issues may also be top of voters’ minds. This week’s Hanau shootings, which saw gunman attack two hookah bars, leaving nine people, of foreign descent, dead prompted the SPD and Greens to cancel their final campaign events ahead of the vote.
Hamburg also hosted a climate rally on Friday with around 20,000 people in attendance, according to police estimates. Organizers say some 60,000 people turned up, including Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
Christian Social Union (CSU)
The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
Social Democrats (SPD)
The SPD is Germany’s oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
Alternative for Germany (AfD)
The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel’s immigration policy, euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany’s Muslim population.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
Free Democrats (FDP)
The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes, but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
The Greens
The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsuprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.
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Germany’s major political parties — What you need to know
The Left
The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany.
rs, lc/aw (dpa, AFP)