Heavy defeat for Scholz’s SPD in regional vote

DÜSSELDORF, Germany: Exit polls from a regional vote in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday showed Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) lagging badly behind the conservative CDU.

Surveys published after polling stations closed at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) put the conservatives on around 35 per cent, with the SPD on around 28 per cent -- a result that would be its worst ever in the state.

The drubbing comes amid criticism for Scholz over his stance on the war in Ukraine, especially his perceived hesitancy to provide heavy weapons to help it resist Russia’s invasion.

North-Rhine Westphalia is a prosperous industrial hub and Germany’s most populous state with some 13 million eligible voters and around a quarter of the population.

The state is home to major cities Cologne, Bonn, Duesseldorf, Essen and Dortmund, and the result will be seen as a key indicator of the political mood in Germany.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s last election in 2017 saw the CDU under Armin Laschet triumph with around 33 per cent of the vote, while the SPD finished on 31.2 per cent.

Laschet went on to replace Angela Merkel as the leader of the party before losing to Scholz in the race to become chancellor last year.

The CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia is now led by moderate Hendrik Wuest, 46.

Scholz had played a prominent role in the election campaign but his involvement appears to have done nothing to help SPD candidate Thomas Kutschaty, 53.

The Social Democrats were also roundly beaten in another regional election last week, in the small northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, exit polls showed the Green party on around 18 per cent -- almost triple its score in the last regional vote in 2017, when it scored 6.4 per cent.

The liberal FDP was on around five per cent, a sharp drop on its performance on 2017 when it joined forces with the CDU to form the regional government.

At the federal level, Scholz’s party has formed a government with the Greens and the FDP after winning last September’s general election.

The Greens have been perceived as stronger than the SPD in their response to the war in Ukraine, with Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock now Germany’s most popular politicians.