Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s left-liberal globalist SPD, which has witnessed its support at the national level drop precipitously as of late, emerged victorious in this weekend’s elections in Bremen, Germany’s smallest state, while the local right-wing populist party made notable gains.
After the votes were tallied on the evening of Sunday, May, 14th, the SPD, which previously governed the northern city-state prior to the election, was the clear winner as it increased its share of the vote to 30.1%, up from 24.9%, securing 28 seats in the state’s 84-seat parliament, the German broadcaster N-TV reports.
Germany’s establishment center-right party CDU came in second place, garnering 25%, down nearly 2% from the 2019 election, while the left-liberal Green party experienced another unmistakable defeat, witnessing its support drop to 12% from over 17% the previous election as voters clearly signaled concern over the social and economic consequences of their agenda.
“We need to look at what we did wrong,” said Omid Nouripour, Greens co-chief, adding that the result was a reflection of the party’s overall performance at the national level.
Meanwhile, the left-wing populist Die Linke party secured 10.9% of the vote, just edging out the local right-wing populist party Bürger in Wut (Citizens in Anger), which almost surpassed the double-digit threshold after having collected 9.5% of the vote. The liberal, pro-business FDP received 5.2%.
According to political analysts, Bürger in Wut benefited greatly from the internal dispute within the Bremen AfD, which received 6.1% in 2019 but failed to produce a single list of candidates in this election. The party, therefore, was completely excluded from the election.
Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) welcomed Sunday’s favorable results, telling supporters: “What a day, what a result. The number one in Bremen, that’s us.” Explaining his party’s triumph, Bovenschulte told the German press: “It was because we do good politics because the SPD fought really hard as a party and did a great election campaign and yes, I also made a small contribution.”
SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert was also delighted with the party’s results. “We are extremely proud of the SPD in Bremen,” he said.
The SPD will now have the option to continue governing with the Greens and Die Linke or form a “grand coalition” with the CDU. Bovenschulte has announced his intention to hold exploratory talks with all democratic parties in an attempt to see “where there is the greatest overlap in policy positions”
It is worth noting that given its 683,000 inhabitants and 474,500 eligible voters, Bremen is not considered a political bellwether for other parts of the country.
