In Bergwinkel, Schlüchtern, Steinau and Bad Soden-Salmünster are now reporting the final results of the local elections. Counting is still underway for the district council. We'll keep you up to date in the ticker.

Update from March 17th, 5:40 p.m.: In the city of Schlüchtern, all 20 electoral districts for the city council have been counted. The CDU is the strongest force with 28.29 percent of the votes (trend result: 29.12 percent). For a long time there was a neck-and-neck race between the SPD and the AfD (see update from March 16, 5:11 p.m).

Ultimately, the SPD (24.26 percent) prevailed relatively well ahead of the AfD (17.39 percent). The Greens finally came to 11.04 percent, the BBB (Bergwinkel Citizens' Movement) to 9.84 percent, the FDP to 5.22 percent and the Left to 3.96 percent. The voter turnout in the Bergwinkel city is: 55.56 percent.

Main-Kinzig district local election: final result in Bergwinkel cities

In Bad Soden-Salmünster, too, the cumulative and variegated votes have been counted in all 14 electoral districts. In comparison to the trend result and also to the first interim results (see update from March 16, 12:53 p.m) there was a shift. The CDU (42.64 percent) overtook the Joint Voters List/GWL (46.45 percent). The SPD comes to 20.91 percent. The voter turnout is 51.74 percent.

In the district council, 359 of 366 electoral districts have now been counted. However, there were no notable changes compared to the trend result. The CDU as the strongest force is currently at 29.36 percent (trend: 29.13). The SPD is almost unchanged at 24.26 percent (23.40) and the AfD at 19.65 percent (20.63). The Greens get 10.10 percent (10.64).

+++ 7:11 p.m.: In Sinntal, too, all 16 electoral districts have now been counted. As in the trend result, the CDU is still just behind the SPD (27.23 percent) with 25.07 percent. The strongest force is still clearly the community of voters with 47.70 percent of the vote.

+++ 6:04 p.m.: The city of Steinau is the first municipality in the Bergwinkel to report its preliminary final results for the local elections in the Main-Kinzig district; all 15 electoral districts have been finally counted. There have been minor changes compared to the trend result. The We for Steinau alliance (WFS) remains the strongest force, but only with 31.95 percent of the votes instead of 33.40.

First Bergwinkel city reports final results of the 2026 local elections

The SPD follows in second place with 27.18 percent (trend: 27.27), followed by the almost equal BGM with 20.42 percent (19.36) and UBL with 20.46 percent (19.98).

+++ 5:11 p.m.: In the city of Schlüchtern, 12 out of 20 electoral districts have now been counted for the city council. The CDU is still the strongest force with 29.77 percent of the votes (trend result: 29.12 percent). The AfD (21.54 percent) and the SPD (21.20 percent) are in a neck-and-neck race. The Greens currently have 10.63 percent, the BBB (Bergwinkel Citizens' Movement) 8.77 percent.

In the district council, 147 of 366 electoral districts have now been counted. There have been no notable changes compared to the trend result so far. The CDU as the strongest force is currently at 27.79 percent (trend: 29.13). The SPD is almost unchanged at 23.83 percent (23.40), the AfD at 20.58 percent (20.63), the Greens at 10.76 percent (10.64).

+++ 2:33 p.m.: In the city of Steinau, almost half of the electoral districts (7 out of 15) have now been finally counted. The SPD is currently almost unchanged at 27.87 percent. The Alliance We for Steinau (WFS) slipped from 33.40 to 26.94 percent and is therefore no longer the strongest force. UBL (Independent Citizens' List) and BGM (Citizens Help to Shape) are almost on a par with 22.87 and 22.32 percent respectively.

However, there is not a single result from the city of Schlüchtern yet and progress is also being made slowly in the district council, which is only counted after the municipal councils; results are currently available from 26 of 366 electoral districts.

First votes counted in local elections in Bergwinkel

Update from March 16, 12:53 p.m.: Little by little, the preliminary final results are trickling in from the electoral districts to the Bergwinkel municipalities. In Sinntal, 10 of 16 electoral districts have already been completely counted. Compared to the trend result, the CDU has increased and is currently just ahead of the SPD (25.34 percent) at 27.43 percent. However, the strongest force is still clearly the civil voting community with currently 47.23 percent of the vote.

The background: On Sunday evening only the ballot papers with a list cross were counted, now the personal votes are evaluated by the voters were able to give up the possibility of cumulation and variegation. Only when these votes have been counted will it be clear how the individual parties performed in the local elections and which people were elected as city councilors and community representatives.

In Bad Soden-Salmünster, too, the cumulative and variegated votes have already been counted in 8 of the 14 electoral districts. However, no major shifts compared to the trend result have yet been observed here. The Joint Voters List (GWL) is still in the lead with 40.92 percent, followed by the CDU (37.95 percent) and the SPD (21.13 percent). There are still no reliable final results available in the cities of Schlüchtern and Steinau or in the district council.

First report from March 16th, 11:15 a.m.: Main-Kinzig district – Early on Monday morning at 12:58 a.m. – seven hours after the polling stations closed – the last of the 366 electoral districts was in for the district council election Main-Kinzig district counted. The Results from the individual cities and municipalities had already been determined earlier in the evening.

The trend result sees the CDU as the strongest force with 29.13 percent of the votes. The second strongest force is the SPD with 23.40 percent. The AfD follows in third place with 20.63 percent, the Greens reach 10.64 percent, the Free Voters 4.43 percent, the Left 4.61 percent and the FDP 3.24 percent.

Local elections in the Main-Kinzig district – CDU strongest force in the district council

Compared to the trend result from 2021, the CDU increased by around 3.5 percentage points (2021: 25.89 percent), while the SPD lost almost six percentage points (2021: 29.12 percent). Five years ago, the Social Democrats were still the strongest force in the district. The AfD almost doubled its result (2021: 10.76 percent), while the Greens lost almost six percentage points (2021: 16.11 percent). The FDP (2021: 6.45 percent) and Free Voters (2021: 7.20 percent) also roughly halved their results.

On Sunday evening, only the ballot papers were counted where list crosses were marked. All ballot papers that were cumulated and variegated will be counted starting today. Only then will it be clear which party will win how many seats and which candidates will sit in the district council or municipal parliament in the future. Trend results are now also for the whole Hesse before – The CDU is also the strongest force nationwide.

In this ticker we will keep you updated today about the further counting results in the Bergwinkel municipalities of Schlüchtern, Steinau, Sinntal and Bad Soden-Salmünster.