The CDU has remained the strongest political force in Lower Saxony’s local elections, while the AfD made major gains and overtook the Greens to become the third-strongest party in the state’s county elections. Both the CDU and SPD lost significant ground compared with the previous local elections five years ago, while the Left Party also increased its support.
According to the provisional results published by the Lower Saxony state election authority on Monday, the CDU received 27.2 percent in the county elections, ahead of the SPD on 24.6 percent. The AfD came third with 15.9 percent, followed by the Greens with 14.1 percent. The Left Party received 6.0 percent, while the FDP secured 3.7 percent.
The figures refer to the provisional county-election results. The final results for the municipal elections were still being counted, meaning a complete state-wide result for all local elections was not yet available.
The CDU retained its position as the strongest party despite losing 4.5 percentage points compared with the 2021 local elections. The SPD suffered an even larger decline, losing 5.4 percentage points, but remained in second place. The biggest change came from the AfD, which increased its result by 11.3 percentage points compared with 2021. The gain was enough to push the party ahead of the Greens, who lost 1.8 percentage points and fell to fourth place.
The Left Party gained 3.2 percentage points, while the FDP lost 2.8 percentage points. Wählergruppen and local political associations accounted for 5.1 percent, with their combined result changing only marginally from the previous election. The CDU's result was welcomed by state chairman Sebastian Lechner, who described it on Sunday evening as an electoral success for his party under difficult circumstances. He said dissatisfaction with Berlin had been clearly noticeable during the campaign.
SPD state chairman and Minister President Olaf Lies described the result as difficult for his party, saying that the SPD had hoped for more.
The local elections saw significantly higher voter participation than five years ago. The provisional turnout was 64.6 percent, up 7.6 percentage points from the 2021 election. Around 6.3 million people were eligible to vote across Lower Saxony. They were called upon to elect representatives to almost 2,200 local councils and other municipal bodies, as well as to vote directly for around 400 district administrators, mayors and other municipal leaders.
The counting process has taken longer because of the complexity of the local electoral system. Direct elections were given priority, while votes for city councils, county councils and other representative bodies were counted later. As a result, the provisional county-election figures were available while the municipal-election count was still underway. The state election authority had expected a broader picture of party strength across Lower Saxony only after the remaining votes had been counted.
The strong AfD result in Lower Saxony came one week after the party recorded a clear victory in the state election in neighbouring Saxony-Anhalt. Its performance in Lower Saxony was therefore also being closely watched.
In Lower Saxony, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD as confirmed far-right extremist. Several AfD candidates for mayoral and district administrator positions were not permitted to contest the elections because of doubts about their commitment to the constitution. The exclusions followed new rules introduced in the municipal election law.
Several major direct elections will be decided in runoffs on September 27. In Hannover, incumbent Mayor Belit Onay of the Greens received 45.6 percent in the first round but failed to secure an absolute majority. He will face SPD candidate Axel von der Ohe, who finished second with 21.5 percent, in the runoff.
The election for regional president of the Hannover Region will also go to a second round. SPD candidate Eva Bender led with 30.64 percent, ahead of CDU candidate Oliver Junk, who received 22.01 percent. They will face each other again on September 27. In Braunschweig, the state’s second-largest city after Hannover, incumbent Mayor Thomas Kornblum of the SPD received 43.3 percent and finished well ahead of CDU candidate Maximilian Pohler, who received 17.2 percent. Kornblum nevertheless failed to reach an absolute majority and will face Pohler in the runoff.
Salzgitter will see a contest between incumbent CDU Mayor Frank Klingebiel and AfD candidate Patricia Mair. Klingebiel received 45.61 percent in the first round, while Mair came second with 25.67 percent, ahead of SPD candidate Tobias Bey, who received 19.39 percent. The AfD also emerged as the strongest force in the Salzgitter city council election, receiving 27.39 percent.
The provisional county-election results leave the CDU in first place and the SPD in second, but the balance among the parties has shifted significantly compared with 2021. The CDU and SPD both lost substantial support, while the AfD recorded a major increase and moved ahead of the Greens. The Left Party also made gains, while the FDP suffered another decline.
The final picture is not yet complete because the municipal-election results were still being counted. Meanwhile, the outcome of several prominent mayoral and regional elections will be decided in the September 27 runoffs.
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