Analysing the election in Lower Saxony

A good night for the AfD?

The Story

The Social Democrats came away with a win in the state election in Lower Saxony on Sunday, taking home 33.4 percent of the vote.

“I’m moved by the fact that in these times of great difficulty so many people have put their trust in the SPD in Lower Saxony,” state leader Stephan Weil said after the provisional result was announced.

While it was undoubtedly a good night for the SPD, Weil’s party actually lost several hundred thousand votes compared to the last election in 2017. But their closest rivals, the CDU, were unable to take advantage, losing 5.5 percent of their own vote share to end up on 28.1 percent.

The other big story from Sunday’s result was the Free Democrats (FDP) failing to make it into the state parliament at all after missing the 5 percent cut off.

The Greens were the only member of the federal coalition to do well on the night, improving their vote share from 8.7 percent to 14.5 percent.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) also had a good night, winning 10.9 percen…