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In the district and city of Fulda, the CDU is ahead in the local elections. The AfD is making big gains. What do the parties say? And what happens next?
Fulda – Die After counting the ballot papers with list crosses, the CDU achieved 42.8 percent in the district and 36.7 percent in the city of Fulda. The top candidate for the district council election, Thomas Hering, is optimistic. He relies on the ballot papers that are still outstanding – i.e. the papers with personal votes. “Here I am assuming a disproportionate change towards the CDU,” says Hering.
There were mixed feelings in the city CDU on election night. “We are of course somewhat disappointed with this trend result,” says city association chairman and mayor Dag Wehner. The Union has slipped below the 40 percent mark. At the same time, Wehner also expressed the “hope that the numbers will go up a little on Monday with the counting of the cumulative and variegated ballot papers” and that the candidates who have roots in the region can win a few more votes.
Local elections in Fulda: This is how the parties react to the trend results
Looking at the results of the AfD, which increased to 23.2 percent in the city of Fulda (7.2 percent overall in 2021), Wehner speaks of “astonishment” and “shock”. The AfD's share of the vote is leveling off with the results of the most recent federal election. In the The AfD had 23.6 percent of the second votes in the Fulda constituency last year fetched.
“We are very satisfied with our very strong result,” says the AfD’s top candidate for the district, Jan Nolte. “This time we are three times as strong as in the last election, which of course makes us very happy,” adds Frank Schüssler, the city’s top candidate. Jan Nolte deduces from the result: “The voters want conservative policies. Our hand is outstretched, now it is up to the CDU to show the courage to take action.” AfD district association chairman Pierre Lamely made a similar statement: “We are available to the CDU,” he explains with regard to a possible coalition.
However, CDU man Hering rules out collaboration with the AfD. “We have always said that we do not work with the political extremes, let alone form a coalition. And for me that includes the AfD and the Left,” emphasizes the member of the state parliament. Nevertheless, finding a majority will not be easy in the next few days and weeks.
In the Fulda city council assembly, the CDU, FDP and CWE have formed a three-way alliance in the current electoral period. The coalition no longer has a majority – at least according to the trend results. “We hope that the result will improve somewhat, especially for the centrist parties,” says CDU city association chairman Wehner. The final results and the distribution of seats in the city council will probably not be known until Tuesday.
What happens next? “I assume that the CDU will approach us. At the same time, I believe that the firewall in the city and district of Fulda will remain in place,” explains the top candidate of the city's Green Party, Marie-Louise Puls. The Greens wanted to keep all options open for the coming legislative period: “We are ready for talks.” Puls describes the losses for the SPD and CDU and the gains for the AfD as “frightening”.
The SPD's top candidate, Jonathan Wulff, told the Osthessen-News portal that there were many good conversations during the election campaign Local election. However, the federal trend did not exactly give the SPD a tailwind.
