Analysis of state elections

Tuesday 16th March | 18:00-19:00 GMT; 19:00-20:00 CET; 13:00-14:00 EST

This is a joint event between Policy Network, the Aston Centre for Europe and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Speakers will explore state election results from Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland Palatinate and what they hold for parties ahead of September.

On 14 March, the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland Palatinate will hold their regional elections. With the upcoming federal election September, these will be an important electoral litmus test for the parties as they approach Europe’s most important poll this year. Whilst state governments are important in their own right, being responsible in Germany’s federal system for a wide array of legislation, state governments are also represented in Germany’s upper house, which holds veto power over legislation that affects state competences.

But in the national context, these elections will even more provide significant indicators ahead of September’s election, in which the German people will choose a new leader. With Angela Merkel stepping down after 16 years at the helm, and the CDU/CSU having not yet settled on a candidate for chancellor, it seems as though everything is in transition and all is to play for.

Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland Palatinate will see the the CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP and the AfD face electoral tests which may hold important lessons for their ambitions for power, which are by no means yet set in stone. Join us to discuss the results and their implications for September and for the centre left, both the SPD and potential coalition partners who could form the next German government.

More information and registration here.