Politics
A clear-cut verdict comes from voters in Bavaria: national government parties lose support and the party that for decades has had an absolute majority in Germany’s richest region continues its
decline. The Christian Social Union (CSU) led by Horst Seehofer, current Interior Minister in Merkel’s government, took 37.2% of the vote, down from 47.7% in 2013. And the Social Democrats (SPD), Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian ally and the party of Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, lost over 10% of their vote, down from 20.6% in 2013 to just 9.7% yesterday. The Greens got part of their inheritance since they were chosen by 17.5% of voters, +8.9% compared to 2013. The “Free Voters” group secured 11.6% of the vote, whilst the nationalist party AfD, which was not yet running in 2013, took 10.2 % of the vote. The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) made it just over the 5% threshold. “Die Linke” (the Left) did not make it into the Bavarian parliament. 72.4% of Bavarians went to the polls on Sunday, that is, 8.8% more than in 2013.
