The state elections in Hesse began on Sunday. Polling stations across the country opened at 8 a.m. this morning. Around 4.3 million people aged 18 and over are entitled to cast their vote. An alliance of the CDU and the Greens has governed Hesse since 2014. According to the latest surveys, a continuation of the black-green coalition seems possible, but a coalition between the CDU and SPD after the election is also mathematically and politically conceivable.
The CDU with Prime Minister Boris Rhein was recently clearly ahead of the SPD and its top candidate, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, and the Greens in the polls. With Tarek Al-Wazir, they ran their own prime minister candidate for the first time. The AfD also has a chance of becoming the second strongest force. But no other party wants to form an alliance with her. It could be close to entering the state parliament for FDP, Left and Free voters.
The Hessian parliament normally has 110 members, but this number can increase. There are currently 137 representatives in the state parliament, which is due to the electoral system. The election takes place with two votes. One applies to the election of a direct candidate of a party in one of the 55 constituencies, the other applies to the state list of a party. A total of 856 candidates are running. 359 of them are running both in a constituency and on their party’s state list.
Double-digit losses for CDU and SPD in 2018
If a party wins a lot of direct mandates and ends up with a higher number of representatives than it would be entitled to based on the state results, electoral law provides for compensation. This is done with so-called overhang and compensatory mandates for the other parties so that the election results are not grossly distorted. The new state parliament will meet in Wiesbaden for its constituent session in January 2024.
The CDU and SPD each suffered double-digit losses in the last election in 2018. At that time, the CDU was the strongest party with 27 percent and could have governed with both the SPD (19.8 percent) and the Greens (also 19.8 percent). After negotiations, the CDU and the Greens renewed their coalition alliance. The AfD achieved 13.1 percent, and the FDP (7.5 percent) and the Left (6.3 percent) also entered the state parliament. The voter turnout was 67.3 percent.
