The CDU is once again the strongest force ahead of the SPD in the local elections in Lower Saxony with 27.2 percent. According to the preliminary results published on the state's election portal, the SPD achieved 24.6 percent, the AfD 15.9, the Greens 14.1, the Left 6.0 and the FDP 3.7. The nationwide percentage values reflect the votes for the district councils, the councils of the independent cities and the regional assembly of the Hanover region.
In the last district elections in 2021, the CDU was the strongest force with 31.7 percent, ahead of the SPD with 30.0 percent. At that time, the Greens achieved 15.9 percent, the FDP 6.5 percent, the AfD 4.6 percent and the Left 2.8 percent. This means that the AfD made particularly strong gains and achieved its best local election result to date in Lower Saxony. The CDU and SPD, however, lost support.
In total, the election involved almost 2,200 local parliaments and 68,000 candidacies. Around 6.3 million people were able to take part in the elections this time. Voter turnout was 64.6 percent, increasing significantly. Five years earlier, 57.0 percent of those eligible to vote had cast their vote.
Mood test for the red-green state government
The local elections are seen as a test of the mood in Lower Saxony, which is governed by the red-green coalition, before the state elections next year and as a gauge for the mood in a western German state. It is the first nationwide election in Lower Saxony since Olaf Lies took over as Prime Minister from Stephan Weil (both SPD) last year. “I would like voters to consciously look at the candidates on site,” Lies told the German Press Agency on election day. "It's not a small federal election, but a real personality election. And it's about your own community, city or district."
The result in the state capital Hanover in particular is likely to have a signal effect for the SPD, which governs Lower Saxony. In 2019, the Social Democrats lost to the Green politician Belit Onay - after more than 70 years of SPD rule. This time too, the Green Mayor Onay won. According to the preliminary final result, he was in the lead with 45.6 percent, well ahead of the SPD candidate Axel von der Ohe with 21.5 percent. This means there will be a runoff election on September 27th.
Four AfD candidates were not admitted to the election
The local elections are also likely to be seen as a yardstick for how the AfD is currently doing in a western German state - a week after the AfD's success in the state elections in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt and a week before the next election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Unlike the local elections in Lower Saxony five years ago, the AfD state association is now being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a right-wing extremist object. The party is defending itself legally. However, four AfD candidates were not admitted to the election because of doubts about their loyalty to the constitution. For example, AfD state deputy Stephan Bothe was not allowed to run for Lüneburg district administrator.
The federal government overshadowed the election, says the CDU state leader
Last but not least, federal politicians are likely to look very closely at the results of the local elections in Lower Saxony. After the defeat in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU is under pressure. In the upcoming state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, his party has recently fallen to seven percent in surveys.
Even before the final results were available, Lower Saxony's CDU leader Sebastian Lechner said that the federal government had overshadowed the local elections. "I think there needs to be a political change in Berlin. We have to relieve the burden on people. The energy prices are too high, the housing prices are too high. There is too little net of the gross." When asked about the future of Chancellor Merz, Lechner said that now was no time for personnel discussions. The CDU must concentrate on the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin next Sunday.
