CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania fears five percent hurdle before state elections

In the last few meters of the election campaign, the CDU's nervousness is growing: "The situation of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is anything but nice at the moment. There is concern about failure at the five percent hurdle," said Marc Reinhardt, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CDU in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, to the "Tagesspiegel". But he is an optimist and wants “towards 10 percent”, which is “modest enough”. In recent surveys, the CDU is at 7 percent ahead of the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The election will take place on September 20th. In the last election in 2021, the CDU won 13.3 percent.

"Many people are dissatisfied, the federal government is not providing any support. People often talk about Mr. Merz," said Reinhardt. The real problem, however, is that Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) is running an "empty populism election campaign": "It polarizes, only thinks about itself. The CDU thus becomes a millstone between the far right and the far left."

Rehberg also blamed Schwesig and the federal government for the CDU's poor poll numbers. "One reason for the CDU's threatening weakness is Ms. Schwesig's polarization. She is making the AfD strong with her election campaign, as the polls show," said Rehberg: "So anyone who has even a little frustration in their soul will vote for the AfD."

In addition, Schwesig “takes away votes from all other parties, so he tries to be a Woidke copy.” Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) led an AfD-or-me election campaign in 2024 and thereby won over swing voters. Rehberg said Schwesig should have a “civic interest” in the CDU being a member of the state parliament for the next five years. “I doubt she thinks that way, though.”

"Of course the CDU suffers from the poor reputation of the federal government," said Rehberg: "I know that Friedrich Merz is unpopular, I know the rumors about a change of chancellor. But the CDU should only hold personnel debates after September 20th."