Daniel Günther can be celebrated.
(Photo: Getty Images)
The self-appointed people’s parties have hardly any binding power – that’s what has been said more and more in recent years. And it was true. Results above the important 30 percent mark were a long way off for the Union and SPD in the 2021 federal election.
Olaf Scholz is a chancellor whose party only got a quarter of the votes. But after Daniel Günther’s brilliant election victory in Schleswig-Holstein, there now seems to be signs of a turnaround in the federal states.
Today’s Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger started this development when she secured an absolute majority for the SPD in Saarland at the end of March. So now Günther, who achieved a record result on his own.
There was no real tailwind from the federal CDU. Although Friedrich Merz managed a media coup with his visit to Kyiv, it did not have a lasting impact on the cool North Germans. Word should have gotten around that her prime minister was always in the other camp when Merz tried three times for the post of CDU leader.
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While the SPD and the Union appeared weak and tired in the federal elections, a new generation of politicians is growing up in the federal states who govern actively and take the differentiated views of the citizens into account. Real champions are the Greens, who were able to achieve a strong result in Kiel.
That was certainly due to Robert Habeck from Schleswig-Holstein. Although the Federal Minister of Economics was not up for election, he is now Germany’s most popular politician.
Citizens have more confidence in the people’s parties again
However, it would be short-sighted to attribute the flaring relationship between citizens and popular parties only to politicians such as Rehlinger or Günther. The trend for the CDU and SPD to break the 30 percent mark again could continue in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Here, the SPD’s top candidate and the CDU prime minister are little known to the general public. The federal parties of the CDU and SPD should therefore take another look at the federal states. Here the citizens trust the people’s parties more.
More: Günther exceeds expectations – CDU triumphs in Schleswig-Holstein