🇩🇪 German state & local elections

[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?

[TheSaint250]

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1147117050290233344

[TheSaint250]

Are there any good prediction/poll tracking sites for the upcoming state elections?  Three that I found were election.de, wahlkreisprognose.de, and dawum.de.

[TheSaint250]

Is this a new poll?

 https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/landtagswahl-in-brandenburg-die-afd-liegt-deutlich-vor-spd-gruenen-und-cdu/24903194.html

If so, the numbers are:

AfD: 21.0%
SPD: 18.2%
Grüne: 17.2%
CDU: 17.1%
Linke: 14.7%
FDP: 5.5%
Other: 6.3%

[TheSaint250]

Yes, the poll is from yesterday; but with 28 days, the survey period is very huge, which isn't quite handy two weeks before an election.

Indeed, and its Civey, an online pollster with not the best reputation.

Ah, got it. Thank you both.

What are the pundits saying about the elections in Saxony and Brandenburg (and Thuringia, though that's further off)?  Do they expect AfD to overperform, underperform, etc.?  Any more speculation over coalitions?

[TheSaint250]

Are Freie Wähler parties considered to be just additional groups of conservatives in all states, or does it vary by state? I remember reading that the Bavarian branch was, and someone in the thread noted that the Brandenburg one is, too.

Also, what's the reason behind their rise across the board?

[TheSaint250]

In some way, it's really a pity that Ramelow talks like a Social Democrat, behaves like a Social Democrat, governs like a Social Democrat, but remains, after all, a LINKE politician. Otherwise, everything would be so much easier right now.

What are some ways where he differs from the party, and do others in the party attack him frequently?