🇩🇪 German state & local elections

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Here's the new thread about statewide and local elections in Germany.

Here's the link to the German Elections (Federal & EU) thread.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Let's start...

Yesterday, Markus Söder was reelected Minister President of Bavaria by the new Bavarian Landtag with 110 of 202 votes cast. The CSU and its coalition party, the Free Voters, have 112 members of parliament available; 103 voted were needed for re-election.
On the picture below, you can see him sworn in by the new Landtag President Isle Aigner, who used to be both the state economy minister the deputy minster president during the last legislative session.
The members of the new state government, however, haven't been announced yet. (I still hope for TV judge and FW representative Alexander Hold to become justice minister.)

[Tender Branson]

Will post pictures of Sen. Cruz and Gov. Abbott being sworn in again here because Bayern and Texas were so similar this year politically: Greens/Beto/Dems gaining a lot but failing narrowly to topple the incumbents.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Will post pictures of Sen. Cruz and Gov. Abbott being sworn in again here because Bayern and Texas were so similar this year politically: Greens/Beto/Dems gaining a lot but failing narrowly to topple the incumbents.

I considered writing the same thing.
I even started a thread because of the striking similarities some weeks ago.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

The next statewide election will be held in Bremen on May 26, 2019 - at the same time as the European elections and maaaaaaaybe the federal snap elections.
The Senate (= government) President is by virtue of his office also the mayor of the Hanseatic City of Bremen. (The Land of Bremen consists of the two cities Bremen and Bremerhaven.)
This kind of personal union is, as far as I know, unique.
(That kind of personal union existed in the German Reich, where the Prussian Minister President was also the Chancellor of the North German Confederation and where the Prussian King was also the German Emperor.)

Normally, the Bremen state elections attract much media attention due to the Land's tiny size and the foreseeable results, but this time it might change as both the CDU and Greens could occupy the Mayor's office. It will be also interesting to see how the AfD will perform after Lucke has left that party.

This is a photo of Bremen Mayor Carsten Sieling. I'd guess 90% of all Germans couldn't identify him, and when told that he's Bremen's Senate President, only 49% could say his name.



Edit: I forgot to add one important thing; the Bremische Bürgerschaft is the only state parliament left with a four-year legislative term. Hamburg extended the length of the legislative period of its parliament into five years, and that amendment is already effective for the current  Hamburgische Bürgerschaft elected in 2015.

[palandio]

Now that I think about it I am wondering why I never thought about this:

The Senate and its president (i.e. the government and the governor) are elected by the Bürgerschaft (i.e. the state parliament). The Bürgerschaft consists of two delegations, 68 delegates from the Stadtgemeinde of Bremen proper and 15 from Bremerhaven. The 68 delegates from Bremen at the same time form the Stadtbürgerschaft (i.e. the city parliament of Bremen proper).
But as Hades said, the senate president automatically becomes the mayor of Bremen proper and the senators (i.e. ministers) become the Dezernenten (local government). Hence the mayor of Bremen proper is also elected by the citizens of another city, that is Bremerhaven. In the extreme case the mayor and his city government could even not have a majority in the city parliament. (This of course happens all the time in some other German Länder, where the mayor is directly elected like the American or French president.) Weird.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Now that I think about it I am wondering why I never thought about this:

The Senate and its president (i.e. the government and the governor) are elected by the Bürgerschaft (i.e. the state parliament). The Bürgerschaft consists of two delegations, 68 delegates from the Stadtgemeinde of Bremen proper and 15 from Bremerhaven. The 68 delegates from Bremen at the same time form the Stadtbürgerschaft (i.e. the city parliament of Bremen proper).
But as Hades said, the senate president automatically becomes the mayor of Bremen proper and the senators (i.e. ministers) become the Dezernenten (local government). Hence the mayor of Bremen proper is also elected by the citizens of another city, that is Bremerhaven. In the extreme case the mayor and his city government could even not have a majority in the city parliament. (This of course happens all the time in some other German Länder, where the mayor is directly elected like the American or French president.) Weird.

I just read on Wikipedia that the representatives from the City of Bremen elected to the statewide Bürgerschaft also constitute the city council called Stadtbürgerschaft. (The City of Bremerhaven elects its separate Stadtverordnetenversammlung with its own members.)
Thus, there are even three kinds of personal unions: Mayor ↔ Senate President / departments ↔ Senate / Stadtbürgerschaft Bremische ↔ Bürgerschaft

The most controversial thing would occur if someone from Bremerhaven becomes Mayor of the Hanseatic City of Bremen. Weird.

[Tender Branson]

New INSA poll for the Thüringen state election next year:



Current government there is Left-SPD-Greens, which would have no majority any longer (46-51) - because the FDP gets back in.

[palandio]

46% for R2G is better than the 42% in the INSA poll from June 02 and better than the 38% in the Infratest dimap poll from August 28. This comes mostly from the Greens doubling their share from 6% to 12%. At the same time I have doubts whether the recent surge in polling for Greens, SPD and Linke taken together is real. In Bavaria and Hesse it didn't manifest itself.

[DavidB.]

I find statewide to be a confusing term in this thread title. Maybe change it to regional? I feel state is a poor translation of Bundesland.

[Lord Halifax]

I find statewide to be a confusing term in this thread title. Maybe change it to regional? I feel state is a poor translation of Bundesland.

It's both the official translation and the most logical for Americans.

[Tender Branson]

I find statewide to be a confusing term in this thread title. Maybe change it to regional? I feel state is a poor translation of Bundesland.

State is the correct term.

Region is only used for certain parts like the Schwarzwald or something.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

The term "Land-wide", which would be the most accurate translation, would sound strange. Plus, whenever an election is held in a Land, the anglophone press refers to them as state elections.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Anyway, there's some hodgepodge going on in Hesse.
Do you still know the results?



The Greens received 94 more votes than the SPD. At least that's what we were told after Election Day. However, the results are reported to have been Kemp'ed.

There server-based election software was down, so that the election assistants had to note the results by hand, whereby several mistakes had been made: results were mixed up, figures were twisted, ballot papers were forgotten; in some precincts results were even only estimated, based on the results in adjacent precincts.
The City of Frankfurt has recounted votes in several of its 490 precincts, and it is reported that the results in 12 of them are flawed and about 2,000 votes are affected.

The allocation of seats will probably not affected by the recount, buuuuuuut the SPD could become the second-strongest party in Hesse, provide the opportunity of new coalition talks: The FDP had always ruled out the possibility of a Green-led traffic light coalition, but with the SPD becoming the strongest party in such a set-up, the FDP have become open to negotiations with them and the Greens.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

All very amusing, but I will have to make a minor modification to my map it seems!

I find statewide to be a confusing term in this thread title. Maybe change it to regional? I feel state is a poor translation of Bundesland.

'State and Local' ['' ''... "Government'] or 'State and Municipal' would be better, probably?

[rob in cal]

  Not sure I agree with the Texas Bayern comparisons in that in Bavaria the combined vote for left wing parties didn't really go up, just shifted among the three, whereas in Texas we saw an overall % growth in support for the Dems.

[Tender Branson]

BTW:

Is there already a result on the 15 or so constitutional referendums in Hessen ?

[President Johnson]

BTW:

Is there already a result on the 15 or so constitutional referendums in Hessen ?

Not yet, but expected to be published tomorrow. Hope the SPD overtakes the Greens and a traffic light coalition will be formed.

[Tender Branson]

BTW:

Is there already a result on the 15 or so constitutional referendums in Hessen ?

Not yet, but expected to be published tomorrow. Hope the SPD overtakes the Greens and a traffic light coalition will be formed.

I‘m most interested in the death penalty and commitment to European values results ...

[President Johnson]

BTW:

Is there already a result on the 15 or so constitutional referendums in Hessen ?

Not yet, but expected to be published tomorrow. Hope the SPD overtakes the Greens and a traffic light coalition will be formed.

I‘m most interested in the death penalty and commitment to European values results ...

Ups, my bad. Maybe this helps: https://www.hessenschau.de/politik/wahlen/landtagswahl-2018/verfassungsreform/alle-ergebnisse-zur-volksabstimmung-ueber-die-verfassung,verfassungsreform-ergebnisse-102.html

[pilskonzept]

Here you are.

That's 83.2 Yes / 16.8 No on the death penalty, and 82.4 Yes / 17.6 No on Europe.

Digital-only proclamation of laws (81.4/18.6) and especially lowering the age limit for candidates (70.3/29.7) were the least popular changes. Some variation between core and periphery.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

The official Hesse state election results results have finally been released. (Yes, not only Florida and Georgia have to suffer from ballot counting scandals.)
The margin between the Greens and the SPD has decreased from 91 to 66 votes, thus the SPD is still only number 3. A traffic-light coalition can therefore be ultimately ruled out. Sorry, President Johnson! 🤷‍♂️

[TheSaint250]

The official Hesse state election results results have finally been released. (Yes, not only Florida and Georgia have to suffer from ballot counting scandals.)
The margin between the Greens and the SPD has decreased from 91 to 66 votes, thus the SPD is still only number 3. A traffic-light coalition can therefore be ultimately ruled out. Sorry, President Johnson! 🤷‍♂️

So does this mean CDU-Grüne again?

Will Grüne even try to form a coalition?

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

So does this mean CDU-Grüne again?

Will Grüne even try to form a coalition?

Yes and no.
The FDP had rejected a green-led traffic-coalition out of hand.

[President Johnson]

The SPD Baden-Württemberg falls into chaos following a non-binding leadership election between current leader Leni Breymaier, who belongs to the party's left wing, and Lars Castellucci, one of her deputies who is considered more pragmatic. Breymaier received 39 votes more from almost 19,000 cast. There was a recount yesterday (we became Florida ). Both are under 50% support (48.46% to 48.25%; the rest are abstentions).*

Afterwards, Breymaier announced she won't seek reelection on the party convention. She took over in 2016 following the bitter defeat in the state election that year. Polling numbers have not improved since. Castellucci reaffirmed his determination to run for leader on the convention floor, but has been criticized for this. Maybe parliamentary leader and former Education Minister Andreas Stoch (a good man) will be a compromise candidate.

I voted for her challenger because she has not done a good job and divided the state party. I've never been a fan of her. Glad to see her leave.

Stuttgarter Zeitung

* I haven't seen a press report with the official results yet, but they were announced to party members.