Green Party Wins Governor Elections in Baden-Württemberg

According to the first results of the state elections in the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg (traditionally conservative, the home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche), the Green Party has scored almost 25 % of the votes, slightly ahead of the Social-Democrats (about 24 %).
The result of the Christian-Democratic party, formerly governing the state, has plummeted from 44 % to about 38 %. This means, that the day of the conservative coalition of the Christian-Democrats (CDU) with the Liberal-Democratic Party (FDP) are over.

In a coalition with the Social-Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party's candidate Winfried Kretschmann might become the first Green governor of the state of Baden-Württemberg (and the first Green state governor in Germany ever)...

This is not fixed as yet, since the electorial in that state is quite complicated - overhang seats in parliament might tip the boat into another direction. But clearly, the Green Party is the great winner, gaining 12.5 % (!) compared to the last state election, doubling their result.

In the state of Rhineland-Palatia, the Green Party has won in large numbers, too, gaining 11.6 % for a total of over 16 %, chipping off a large portion of the former Social-Democratic majority. They will be part of the state government there, together with the SPD, as well.

The results can be seen as the people's general will to bring about a new course in energy and environmental politics, increasing the pressure on the federal government to shut off all nuclear power plants as soon as possible.
Therefore, it wasn't just regional or state matters, but also the disastrous events in Japan making people reconsider their views on using nuclear power.

~*Ganesha*~

 

Great news! Now, let's see what the bigger implications are for German internal politics, and whether or not the green party there can gain some traction through this result...

 

How is this of any great news?

 

Well, it's the first time in the history of federal Germany that the Green Party wins a state election and has its candidate become governor. Furthermore, the state of Baden-Württemberg is a traditionally conservative one with big money concentrated in the companies I mentioned above. It's also the place, where protests against a questionable traffic project (the planned new underground train station in the state capital called "Stuttgart 21") has caused regular, mainstream, conservative people to join the ranks of protesters and activists and who got tear-gassed by the police along with the traditionally scruffy-looking hippie-type activists. The conservative party's standing suffered quite a lot (and rightly so) from those police actions. So, for people living in Germany and wishing for a change in thecurrent politics, this is great news.