On May 8, the people of Schleswig-Holstein will elect their new regional parliament. We have compiled the most important information on the organization and conduct of regional elections for you.
This is how the electoral system works in Schleswig-Holstein
- About 2.3 million eligible voters
- The legal voting age is 16. Anyone wishing to apply must be at least 18 years old
- German citizenship is a prerequisite for being able to vote
- At the first vote, a direct candidate is elected. The second vote is given for a state list and decides the electoral result in percentage of a party
After an election by relative majority, at least 35 of the 69 seats are allocated in the first round. At least the remaining 34 seats are allocated to national party lists based on the results of the second vote. The five percent hurdle applies to the election, with the exception of the Voters’ Association of South Schleswig (SSW). This represents the Danish minority and the Frisians.
The Wahl-O-Mat for the regional elections in Schleswig-Holstein
If you still don’t know which party to vote for on May 8, you can get help from Wahl-O-Mat. 38 theses deal with the most important topics of state policy. Ultimately, the extent to which his own views match the party’s election manifestos is revealed.
The theses for the election were selected by young people and first-time voters as well as employees of the State Commissioner for Civic Education, the Federal Agency for Civic Education and political experts from the ‘State.
Surf tip: Wahl-O-Mat Schleswig-Holstein regional elections now online: who are you voting for?
best candidates
The best candidates of the parties represented in the state parliament:
- Daniel Gunther, CDU
- Thomas Losse-Müller, SPD
- Monika Heinold, Greens
- Bernd Buchholz, FDP
- Jörg Nobis, AfD
- Lars Harms, SSW
Parties that are not represented in the state parliament but have established state lists that have been approved by the state election commission
- Left, Susanne Spethmann
- Free Voters, Gregor Voht
- Animal Welfare Party, Janine Bahr van Gemmert
- Pirate Party, Mark Hintz
- the base
- The party
- Future.SH
- health research
- Humanists
- volt
Parties not represented in the state parliament must submit 1,000 supporting signatures to participate.
CDU Leadership: Secure Civilian Remedies in State Elections
The CDU leadership sees the regional elections in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia in May as an opportunity to counterbalance the traffic light coalition at the federal level. “These regional elections are also important for Germany in order to ensure a bourgeois corrective to the Bundesrat at the federal level,” CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja told the German Press Agency in Berlin. After the Saarland elections, lost with a bang, at the end of March, the elections in Schleswig-Holstein on May 8 and in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 15 should be the first real test of the mood for the promised new CDU start by new party leader Friedrich Merz.
In both countries, the CDU prime ministers Hendrik Wüst (NRW) and Daniel Günther (Schleswig-Holstein) want to defend their government power. There is a good chance of winning the elections in both countries, Czaja said. “As with all state elections, these are also initially state political matters,” he stressed. However, Czaja conceded: “But of course it is also important for us as a party that the two prime ministers can continue their work. And there’s all the support we can give.”
Merz had vehemently rejected allegations that the federal party had not sufficiently supported CDU Prime Minister Tobias Hans, who was removed from office there, in regional elections in Saarland. The federal leadership of the CDU had mainly referred to the country-specific reasons for the failure of the CDU in Saarland. Merz, from North Rhine-Westphalia, made it clear that a victory for his party in his home country was particularly important to him.
“We just see what kind of chaos the red-green light policy is causing,” Czaja said, justifying classifying the upcoming election as a fix to the federal government. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach withdrew his decisions via a talk show, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (both SPD) is delaying aid to Ukraine and misleading the population about it.
“And the Federal Chancellor (Olaf Scholz, SPD) smiles mischievously at parliament, but fails to answer a single question about his politics,” Czaja criticized, referring to a recent government inquiry of Scholz in parliament. “The people of North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony certainly appreciate this.”
Like her predecessors, Czaja wants to increase the proportion of women in the CDU. Every second post in the party’s presidium is held by a woman. “It doesn’t change the fact that we have too few women in the CDU, both in leadership positions and at the party base,” he said. “I want us to create an atmosphere in which women feel even more invited and valued. The CDU must send the clear message that “women are not only wanted, but also needed. And that it shows in all positions and at all levels of the party.
In the past, the CDU has already described a way in a structure and statute commission of how it wants to gradually fill elected and civil servant positions on an equal footing. The new party executive under Merz “has made it clear that he will not be left behind by these proposals and that we will take these proposals to the party congress for a vote,” Czaja said.