Voters punish Maike Schaefer, Greens lead candidate in Bremen election

By Lukas Karl Mueller, dpa I Monday, May 15, 2023

 

BREMEN – The lead candidate for the Greens in the election held in Bremen at the weekend said she will not be a member of the German city state’s next government after voters punished the party at the ballot box.

“As a top candidate, I draw the conclusion from this result yesterday and am no longer available as a senator for the coming legislative period,” said Maike Schaefer, the former environment and mobility senator.

The election in Germany’s smallest state on Sunday was a “dramatic” defeat, admitted the co-chairman of the state Greens, Florian Pfeffer. Incumbent Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte, of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), won Sunday’s elections by a large margin.

According to the most recent projection made by the state electoral authority, the Greens garnered 11.7% of the vote – its worst results in Bremen in 20 years. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, they still managed 17.4%.

But beyond local challenges, the Green Party is also facing headwinds at the federal level.
They govern in a national coalition with Scholz’s centre-left SPD and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). Since last year, the Greens have dropped significantly in the national polls.
One reason is the resentment caused by Economy Minister Robert Habeck’s draft law on heating exchanges.

According to the bill, the installation of new gas and oil heating systems in Germany would be banned as early as 2024. Many people fear soaring costs, even though there is no plan for an obligation to replace existing heating systems.

Another reason is accusations of nepotism made against Habeck’s chief architect of the government’s energy transition, state secretary Patrick Graichen.

According to a YouGov survey, Habeck’s approval ratings have fallen sharply. Since June 2022, his approval rating has dropped from 50% to 27%.

“Robert Habeck, the fallen favourite,” wrote columnist Franz Josef Wagner in the Bild newspaper. Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s ratings have also dropped, although not as much as Habeck’s.

“We certainly didn’t get a tailwind from the federal level, there were certainly reasons here,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour on election night.

It is unclear whether Bovenschulte will need the Greens to form a coalition government in Bremen. A coalition of SPD and the centre-right Christian Democrats is also conceivable.
Equally unclear is what impact the Green defeat in Bremen will have on Scholz’s coalition in Berlin.

The Greens and the FDP, which according to the projections only just cleared the 5% hurdle for re-entry into parliament, now want to raise their profile.

An election result with such an imbalance – the SPD as the winner, the FDP and the Greens shaken – could be dangerous for the stability of the coalition.

“All in all, we here in Berlin, in the government, have to see how we can improve,” said SPD leader Lars Klingbeil.