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Roundup: Merkel's party wins regional election

Xinhua, May 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has scored a clear victory in the regional elections in Germany's northernmost state Schleswig-Holstein Sunday.

In the official election results, the CDU gained 32 percent of the vote -- an increase of 1.2 percent compared to the last election five years ago. CDU top candidate Daniel Guenther is now tasked with the formation of a government.

The current coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the South Schleswig Voter's Association (SSW) has been voted out of office, Guenther said, "the people have voted against the coalition of standstill and for a new start."

The CDU now faces difficult coalition negotiations. A coalition of CDU, the Greens and the FDP is possible, as is a coalition of SPD, the Greens and the FDP -- or a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD. Guenther staked his claim to the post of prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein after the elections.

Current state premier Torsten Albig, from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), only achieved 27.2 percent of the vote -- compared to 30.4 percent in 2012. Albig spoke of a "bitter" day for social democracy, the government and himself.

The results are indicative of the dimming of the so-called "Schulz-Effect" -- the spike in the polls after former European Parliament President Martin Schulz (SPD) announced his candidacy for Chancellor of Germany against Merkel. The Social Democrats had expected a different result, Schulz said "this is something that gets under the skin."

The far right, nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained 5.9 percent of the votes, overcoming the 5 percent threshold for entrance into the state parliament for the first time with their top candidate Joerg Nobis.

The German Green party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) achieved their second best result in Schleswig-Holstein with 12.9 and 11.5 percent. Both parties now play a decisive role in the formation of a new state government.

The left-wing populist party the Left fell short of the 5 percent hurdle to enter into the parliament with 3.8 percent of votes, despite an increase of 1.5 percent compared to 2012.

Germany's Pirate Party only achieved 1.2 percent and is no longer represented in Schleswig-Holstein's state parliament. The Pirates entered the parliament in 2012 with 8.2 percent.

Voter participation increased to around 65 percent from 60.2 percent in 2012. Enditem