Skip next section What to expect when polls close
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
What to expect when polls close
Voting is nearly concluded and is scheduled to stop at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT/UTC).
Some polling stations might stay open a little longer if queues had formed before the top of the hour.
First projections based on exit polls should follow soon after.
While not guaranteed, these tend to be fairly reliable, usually more so than opinion polls before the vote.
Given that a close race is anticipated between the AfD and SPD, though, it is more likely than usual that any party’s lead in initial projections could be within the margin of error and potentially subject to change as the count progresses.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kx2Q
Skip next section Brandenburg election sees high turnout
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Brandenburg election sees high turnout
The has seen particularly high voter turnout, according to the state Interior Ministry.
Of the state’s 2.1 million eligible voters, 46% cast a ballot by 2 p.m. local time (1200UTC/GMT). Over half of eligible voters (51.3%) in the Brandenburg state capital of Potsdam have cast a ballot so far.
It’s a jump from the last election in 2019, which garnered a 31.3% eligible voter participation rate by the same time of day.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwxA
Skip next section Migration the top issue for many voters, DW reporter in Potsdam says
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Migration the top issue for many voters, DW reporter in Potsdam says
DW correspondent Alex Gerst is reporting from Potsdam in Brandenburg and gave his analysis on whether the can win big in the state election.
“It looks like the far-right AfD could win the elections here. We are expecting a very tight race between the far-right AfD and the Social Democrats, which are leading the governing coalition here in Brandenburg,” Gerst said in front of a polling station, adding that many people casting their ballots in Potsdam told him migration is their top concern.
Gerst said migration poses a difficulty for regional politicians, as migration policy is determined at the federal level, not by Germany’s 16 states.
In regards to the AfD, Gerst said they will fail to get into government, as “no other party wants to cooperate with them.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwui
Skip next section Four-legged friends enjoy a special outing in Brandenburg
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Four-legged friends enjoy a special outing in Brandenburg
While most voting takes place in secret and alone, exceptions are sometimes made for voters with a canine companion.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwo6
Skip next section Colorful costumes on show in regional vote
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Colorful costumes on show in regional vote
These members of the Slavic Sorbian community in Brandenberg used election day as a chance to wear traditional bright Spreewald costumes as they cast their ballots.
There are an estimated 60,000 Sorbs in eastern Germany near the Polish border. About a third living in Brandenburg — where they are also known as Wends. The rest live further south, in the state of Saxony.
The largely Catholic community is a tight-knit one, where the Sorbian language is more widely spoken than German.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwls
Skip next section Brandenburg state premier casts ballot
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Brandenburg state premier casts ballot
Brandenburg’s Social Democrat (SPD) state premier Dietmar Woidke has cast his vote in the town of Forst in the Spree Neisse district near Germany’s border with Poland.
Speaking to local broadcaster RBB, Woidke said polling was looking better after results from months ago suggested a “certain hopelessness.”
Some parties have tried to turn the state election into a vote on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s traffic light government at the federal level, said Woidke. “I don’t think that’s paying off.”
Still enjoying relatively high popularity by SPD measures nationally, Woidke has mostly shunned campaigning with Scholz.
He has also taken the unusual step of criticizing some of the behavior and policies of the ruling SPD-led coalition.
Instead, he has tried to highlight economic success stories in the state in the past five years since the last state election.
They include the opening of a and — after years of delays — Brandenburg airport, which serves Berlin. The airport is now Germany’s third most important aviation hub.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kweU
Skip next section Postal voting on the rise in German state election
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Postal voting on the rise in German state election
Like Chancellor Olaf Scholz, many Brandenburg residents do not even have to go to a polling station today to cast their vote, having already voted by post beforehand.
More applications for postal voting were submitted for the state elections in Brandenburg this year than four years ago.
By the deadline on September 3, there had already been 365,000 applications for postal voting. In the last state election, only 205,000 people had applied for a postal ballot by the deadline.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwf6
Skip next section German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock casts vote in Brandenburg election
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock casts vote in Brandenburg election
has also cast her vote in the Brandenburg election.
Like Scholz, Baerbock — from junior coalition member the Green Party — has also lived for several years in Potsdam.
The politician said she expects a high voter turnout after voting. In the past few days, according to the RBB radio network, Baerbock said it appeared people had recognized the importance of the vote.
“A lot is at stake. The sun is shining today, so hopefully it’s a day of hope,” said Baerbock,
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwbO
Skip next section Olaf Scholz votes by post
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Olaf Scholz votes by post
One Brandenburg resident who won’t be casting their ballot in person is .
Scholz, whose constituency is in the Brandenburg capital, Potsdam, where he lives with his wife Britta Ernst, cast his ballot in advance by post.
The chancellor couldn’t make it to the polling station because he is in New York City set to deliver a speech to the Summit for the Future.
Should Scholz’s Social Democrats fail to be the biggest party in Brandenburg, which it currently is, that would be seen as a bad sign for the chancellor a year before federal elections are due to be held
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwUo
Skip next section AfD’s lead candidate casts vote
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
AfD’s lead candidate casts vote
In the town of Golssen-Zützen, the AfD’s top candidate, Hans-Christoph Berndt, has cast his vote.
Berndt is a trained dentist and worked for many years at the Charité hospital in Berlin.
He has been classified as a right-wing extremist by the domestic intelligence service.
While he is campaigning to replace Social Democrat state Premier Dietmar Woidke, such an outcome looks unlikely.
Even if the far-right party places first among voters, no mainstream party says it would work in coalition with the AfD.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwUT
Skip next section Polls open in Brandenburg
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
Polls open in Brandenburg
Polls have opened for some 2.1 million eligible voters in , the eastern German state that surrounds Berlin.
Attention is focused chiefly on whether the will garner the most support for the second time in a month, or if center-left of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will emerge on top.
State premier Dietmar Woidke of the SPD has announced that he will step down if the AfD goes on to become the strongest force in the state.
Earlier this month, the AfD — which has its strongest following in Germany’s eastern states — won a parliamentary vote in the state of and came a close second in .
Scholz had called the results from the Thuringia and Saxony elections “bitter” for his SPD.
“All democratic parties are now called upon to form stable governments without right-wing extremists,” he said on September 2, while adding that the “AfD damages our country. It weakens the economy, divides society, and ruins our country’s reputation.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4kwK3
Skip next section AfD party’s success piles pressure on Scholz’s government
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
AfD party’s success piles pressure on Scholz’s government
The Saxony and Thuringia earlier in the month marked a turning point in German politics.
The results handed a far-right party its best results of the post-World War II era.
Still, the far-right AfD is unlikely to be able to govern because it is polling short of a majority and other parties refuse to work with it.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has placed the party’s regional chapters in Saxony and Thuringia under official surveillance as “proven right-wing extremist” groups.
The AfD is also seeking to gain from discontent over infighting in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party ruling coalition.
So much so, Brandenburg’s popular premier Dietmar Woidke, who belongs to Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic party (SPD), has mostly shunned campaigning with Scholz, who lives in the state’s capital, Potsdam.
In an unusual move, Woidke has also criticized the behavior and policies of the ruling coalition.
The newly established left-wing populist party — the — came in third in elections in both Saxony and Thuringia.
Like the AfD, BSW wants less immigration and an end to arming Ukraine.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kw7k
Skip next section AfD expected to perform strongly in eastern state of Brandenburg
09/22/2024September 22, 2024
AfD expected to perform strongly in eastern state of Brandenburg
The far-right is hoping to make substantial gains in regional elections in Brandenburg.
Polls show the AfD and the center-left locked in a tight race with both parties in a position to win over 25% of the vote.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD has governed the state of 2.5 million people since reunification in 1990.
So, an AfD victory in the regional election would be a particular embarrassment for the government in Berlin because the SPD and its coalition partners have been struggling in recent polls.
Both of Scholz’s junior coalition partners — the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens — look set to struggle to win the 5% needed to enter the state parliament in Brandenburg, polls show.
Recent polling puts the at 14% and the left-wing populist at 13%.
The FDP has not held a seat in Brandenburg’s state parliament since 2014.
mk/rmt,rm (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)
https://p.dw.com/p/4kw6m
The post JUST IN — Social Democrats projected to finish just ahead of far-right AfD in close Brandenburg state election appeared first on Deutsche Welle.