Regional elections were held across the German state of Hesse on Sunday, with early results indicating political power shifts coming to various city halls and district councils.
While the centre‑right Christian Democrats (CDU) again emerged as the strongest force state-wide, the elections also saw sharp gains for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and setbacks for the Greens.
More than four million people were eligible to vote in Hesse – known for its economic weight and urban centres such as Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Kassel, Darmstadt and Marburg – including approximately 430,000 EU citizens living in the state.
Voters were called on to elect new municipal councils in 421 towns and cities, as well as representatives in 21 district councils. In many municipalities, mayoral elections were held at the same time.
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Because Hesse’s complex electoral system allows voters to accumulate and split their votes, counting is expected to continue for several days or even weeks in many municipalities.
Cumulative voting allows voters to give more than one vote to a single candidate, enabling them to strengthen support for individuals they particularly favour.
Vote splitting means voters can distribute their votes across candidates from different parties or lists, rather than backing just one party.
Winners and losers at first glance
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) secured 29.7 percent of the vote across the state, according to preliminary results released by the State Statistics Office in Wiesbaden early on Monday.
This represents a slight improvement on its performance in the last local elections five years ago, confirming the party’s position as Hesse’s strongest political force at the local level.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) followed in second place with 20.2 percent, but suffered a noticeable decline compared with 2021, when it had polled 24 percent.
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By contrast, the strongest gains were recorded by the far‑right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which rose sharply from 6.9 to to 15.9 percent, securing third place state-wide.
The Greens, who had finished second in the previous local elections, slipped to fourth place with 14.4 percent (down from 18.4 percent).
Smaller parties trailed behind the leading contenders. The Left Party won 5.8 percent of the vote, while the Free Democrats (FDP) performed particularly weakly, receiving just 3.7 percent –almost half their result from five years ago.
Voter turnout increased to 54.4 percent, up from 50.4 percent in 2021, when voting took place during the Covid pandemic.
With reporting by DPA.
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