State election Mecklenburg

The orangerie at the foot of Schwerin Castle is the ideal place for a day like this. Palm garden, mussel fountain, World Heritage site. Here they bring the garden plants in when it gets cold outside. Manuela Schwesig was awarded the Federal Merit Order in these rooms and received the Dutch royal couple, they are made for pleasant festivities. But whether Schwesig can celebrate this evening is not clear. Two beams shoot upwards, one red and one blue. And the blue one is a little higher. It is silent in the orangerie, no one is cheering. The Social Democrats had hoped too much, but to get ahead of the AfD. Slowly, Schwesig's supporters start to gather, and applause begins. At 6:18 PM, the party leader and incumbent Prime Minister take the stage, visibly moved. "I know it hurts to see this blue beam," she says. But the AfD has missed its goal of an absolute majority, cannot form a sole government. "We have taken this fight," shouts Schwesig, "what a catch-up race, despite strong headwinds from the federation." She thanks the citizens and her team. "I am just the woman for the MV because you exist." The AfD long dominated the marketplaces and the polls The head-to-head race between the SPD and the AfD reached its peak over the weekend in the state capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The day before this memorable election, when it got dark in Schwerin, dozens of citizens had gathered in the marketplace. They held candles in their hands, sang: "Thoughts are free" and "We shall overcome". On the pavement, spread among them, lay a rainbow flag. In videos on social networks, Manuela Schwesig was seen mingling with the singers. Shortly before, the mood was completely different in the Schwerin marketplace. Schwesig's opponent Leif-Erik Holm stood before several hundred people with German flags. "We are the people" they chanted and "Uliii, Uliii, Uliii". The AfD had invited Ulrich Siegmund, the winner of the election from Saxony-Anhalt, as guest of honor at their final rally. There was hope that his success could be repeated in the northeast, but Holm is a weaker speaker, less charismatic, even if the former radio moderator is known by almost everyone in the state. "I stand for a politics that will finally bring order to the world here in MV," says Holm. However, one must first "clear away the debris that Frau Schwesig has piled up". As if a war had raged during her nine years of office. The CDU stands in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern amidst the ruins of its political work. The election party, if the term Party is appropriate, takes place in a dance school. The state chairman and leading candidate Daniel Peters campaigned with the image of a fish fry, along with the slogan: "The center is best". This mythical center is shattered in Saxony-Anhalt, even the AfD now claims it for themselves. Even by the forecast, it is clear: the CDU must fear entering the state parliament. The party members in the hall look concerned and silent at the screen with the results. No CDU logo is found in the ballroom, only a black wall behind the stage. The CDU obviously has nothing to do with the result. It is stepping away from itself in the dance school. As Peters addresses his people, he makes it short: "The CDU Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has achieved a catastrophic result". The party is in a fight for survival. The defeat is historic. In 1951, the CDU achieved nine percent in the state election in Bremen; now it is significantly below that. The consequences for Chancellor Friedrich Merz and federal politics are hardly foreseeable that evening. Manuela Schwesig may not have won, but she led a successful election campaign. The AfD did not only dominate the marketplaces but also the polls. In the autumn of the previous year, the party was at almost 40 percent, followed by the SPD with about 20 percent. What threatens the state in the event of an AfD victory, Schwesig described at the official election campaign wrap-up on Friday in Rostock: government chaos, hanging party, new elections. The AfD stands for radicalization, for stability itself. "The people must be sure that they have a prime minister who stands up for them." Schwesig opted for maximum distance from the coalition in Berlin On Schwesig's side before the lighthouse in Warnemünde stood four SPD state leaders from Hamburg, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, and Saarland. Prominence from Berlin was missing. In recent weeks, Schwesig had moved to the maximum distance from the federal government, criticized the Chancellor's tone, demanded a reform of reforms, and indirectly criticized her own party. Schwesig's speeches of the past weeks were full of Social Democratic keywords: generational justice, wage loyalty law, affordable rent. "Who is meant by 'little people'?," she asked. "People who get up every day and take care of their families? They are not small, they are strong." She thanked a social worker from Ludwigsburg, described the fate of a caregiver who cared for her disabled daughter for 43 years and now fears for her pension. Manuela Schwesig became Social Minister in Schwerin at the age of 34, five years later Federal Family Minister, at 43 she became Prime Minister. From the beginning, she has been reduced to her age, her origin, her hair color – and underestimated. She implemented the quota for supervisory boards of large companies, tax relief for single parents, the law for more wage equality. Even in Berlin, she was considered a power-conscious networker. Greens, Left, CDU suffered from the two-way race between the SPD and the AfD As Vladimir Putin decided to forcibly subdue Ukraine, Schwesig also had to justify herself: for a pipeline that is partly shattered on the ground of the Baltic Sea, for a climate protection foundation that did not first protect the climate but Russian interests. Her political career seemed to be over. She continued. She rehabilitated herself, allowed the Schwerin Castle to be illuminated in the Ukrainian national colors, and told her neighbor every time she fled from Putin's bombs. Schwesig's election campaign team understood what is necessary in the age of personalization, and the campaign was fully tailored to the Prime Minister. Instead of interviews, there was a flood of Reels and political messages that were simple enough to fit a sharepic. "Woman against Blue" was on the poster Schwesig unveiled the day after the election in Saxony-Anhalt. All other parties suffered from the two-way race, Left, Greens, CDU. "It is about whether extremists will take power or whether a reliable, stable government can be formed," was one of the sentences Manuela Schwesig often repeated in the campaign. This task now lies with her. But whether she succeeds is still not clear in light of the election results.