German voters back Europe
in countrywide local elections

28 May 2014: While in many countries political parties promoting a Europe of competing rather than co-operating nation states made significant gains in local and European elections held last week, voters in Germany overwhelmingly backed pro-European parties. The newly-formed euro-sceptic Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) only gained seven per cent of votes in the 2014 elections to the European Parliament and even less in local elections held in ten German states on the same day.

In Nordrhein-Westfalen (North-Rhine Westphalia) the country’s most populous state, support for the AfD was less than 2.5 per cent. The party achieved its best result at local level in Baden-Württemberg where it topped the seven-per-cent mark. Last Sunday, 25 May, voters were asked to elect new city, town and rural district council in all five states of Eastern Germany (but no elections were held in Berlin) as well as in Hamburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland- Palatinate), Saarland and Baden-Württemberg.

German local elections 2014
Total number of votes, expressed in per cent,
for each state and results for selected cities

State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
(Mecklenburg-Pomerania)
CDU (conservative): 33.0%
SPD (social-democrat) 18.9%
Linke (socialist) 19.7%
Grüne (Greens) 5.8%
FDP (liberal) 3.3%
AfD (euro-sceptic) n/a
Piraten (anti-establishment) 3.2%

City of Rostock
CDU (conservative): 20.5%
SPD (social-democrat) 17.0%
Linke (socialist) 26.4%
Grüne (Greens) 11.4%
FDP (liberal) 2.5%
AfD (euro-sceptic) n/a

City of Schwerin
CDU (conservative): 24.8%
SPD (social-democrat) 19.5%
Linke (socialist) 24.6%
Grüne (Greens) 7.8%
FDP (liberal) 3.0%


State of Brandenburg
CDU (conservative): 24.8%
SPD (social-democrat) 24.5%
Linke (socialist) 20.2%
Grüne (Greens) 6.2%
FDP (liberal) 4.0%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.9%

City of Potsdam
CDU (conservative): 15.5%
SPD (social-democrat) 23.4%
Linke (socialist) 25.3%
Grüne (Greens) 11.9%
FDP (liberal) 2.5%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.5%


State of Sachsen-Anhalt
(Saxony-Anhalt)
CDU (conservative): 34.3%
SPD (social-democrat) 18.3%
Linke (socialist) 21.5%
Grüne (Greens) 5.5%
FDP (liberal) 4.5%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 2.3%

City of Magdeburg
CDU (conservative): 25.2%
SPD (social-democrat) 25.4%
Linke (socialist) 22.2 %
Grüne (Greens) 10.6%
FDP (liberal) 3.3%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.8%

City of Halle
CDU (conservative): 25.1%
SPD (social-democrat) 19.1%
Linke (socialist) 25.1%
Grüne (Greens) 10.0%
FDP (liberal) 4.2%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.6%


State of Thüringen
(Thuringia)
CDU (conservative): 35.1%
SPD (social-democrat) 18.3%
Linke (socialist) 21.9%
Grüne (Greens) 5.0%
FDP (liberal) 3.4%

City of Erfurt
CDU (conservative): 24.9%
SPD (social-democrat) 28.6%
Linke (socialist) 22.0%
Grüne (Greens) 9.6%
FDP (liberal) 2.5%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.5%

City of Weimar
CDU (conservative): 23.6%
SPD (social-democrat) 18.1%
Linke (socialist) 19.4%
Grüne (Greens) 15.5%
FDP (liberal) 3.2%
Piraten (anit-establishment)  2.9%
NPD (anti-immigration) 2.8%
Weimarwerk (local party) 14.4%


State of Sachsen
(Saxony)
CDU (conservative): 40.5%
SPD (social-democrat) 11.4%
Linke (socialist) 16.5%
Grüne (Greens) 4.0%
FDP (liberal) 5.3%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 5.4%
NPD (anti-immigration) 4.6%

City of Dresden
CDU (conservative): 27.6%
SPD (social-democrat) 12.8%
Linke (socialist) 20.9%
Grüne (Greens) 15.7%
FDP (liberal) 5.0%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 7.0%
NPD (anti-immigration) 2.8

City of Leipzig
CDU (conservative): 24.9%
SPD (social-democrat) 18.4%
Linke (socialist) 24.2%
Grüne (Greens) 15.0%
FDP (liberal) 2.9%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 6.0%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 2.0%
NPD (anti-immigration) 2.5%


City state of Hamburg
The Hamburg Senate only published district by district results. The Social Democrats (SPD) while losing up to ten percentage points, remain the largest party, followed by the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Greens. The SPD achieved from 30 and 39 per cent of the vote, with the CDU from 18 to 29 and the Greens from 12 to 23 per cent.

State of Nordrhein-Westfalen
(North-Rhine Westphalia)
CDU (conservative): 38.0%
SPD (social-democrat) 31/0%
Linke (socialist) 4.6%
Grüne (Greens) 11.7%
FDP (liberal) 4.8%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 2.5%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 1.7%

City of Köln (Cologne)
CDU (conservative): 27.2%
SPD (social-democrat) 29.4%
Linke (socialist) 6.9%
Grüne (Greens) 19.5%
FDP (liberal) 5.1%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.6%

City of Düsseldorf
CDU (conservative): 36.7%
SPD (social-democrat) 29.3%
Linke (socialist) 5.2%
Grüne (Greens) 13.8%
FDP (liberal) 7.0%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.0%

City of Essen
CDU (conservative): 31.5%
SPD (social-democrat) 34.0%
Linke (socialist) 5.3%
Grüne (Greens) 11.2%
FDP (liberal) 3.3%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.8%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 1.9%

City of Dortmund
CDU (conservative): 27.2%
SPD (social-democrat) 38.2%
Linke (socialist) 6.8%
Grüne (Greens) 15.4%
FDP (liberal) 2.4%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.4%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 2.3%


State of Rheinland-Pfalz
(Rhineland Palatinate)
CDU (conservative): 36.6%
SPD (social-democrat) 29.8%
Linke (socialist) 3.2%
Grüne (Greens) 9.5%
FDP (liberal) 4.1%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.0%

City of Mainz
CDU (conservative): 27.9%
SPD (social-democrat) 27.7%
Linke (socialist) 5.2%
Grüne (Greens) 22.1%
FDP (liberal) 4.0%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 3.7%
Piraten (anit-establishment) 2.2%

City of Koblenz
CDU (conservative): 36.1%
SPD (social-democrat) 24.6%
Linke (socialist) 4.3%
Grüne (Greens) 13.9%
FDP (liberal) 4.2%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.2%


State of Saarland
CDU (conservative): 38.3%
SPD (social-democrat) 34.7%
Linke (socialist) 7.3%
Grüne (Greens) 6.1%
FDP (liberal) 2.4%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 5.3%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 2.4%

City of Saarbrücken
CDU (conservative): 29.2%
SPD (social-democrat) 30.4%
Linke (socialist) 11.7%
Grüne (Greens) 11.2%
FDP (liberal) 3.9%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 4.9%
Piraten (anti-establishment) 3.7
NPD (anti-immigration) 2.0%


State of Baden-Württemberg
CDU (conservative): 39.3%
SPD (social-democrat) 23.0%
Linke (socialist) 3.6%
Grüne (Greens) 13.2%
FDP (liberal) 4.1%
AfD (euro-sceptic) 7.9%

City of Stuttgart
CDU (conservative): 28.3%
SPD (social-democrat) 14.3%
Grüne (Greens) 24.0%
FDP (liberal) 5.9%
Local parties 15.5%
Other parties 11.9%

City of Mannheim
CDU (conservative): 26.0%
SPD (social-democrat) 27.3%
Grüne (Greens) 16.3%
FDP (liberal) 4.5%
Local parties 10.7%
Other parties 15.2

City of Heidelberg
CDU (conservative): 20.8%
SPD (social-democrat) 17.3%
Grüne (Greens) 19.7%
FDP (liberal) 4,4%
Other parties 37.9%

City of Karlsruhe
CDU (conservative): 26.8%
SPD (social-democrat) 21.8%
Grüne (Greens) 19.9%
FDP (liberal) 6.1%
Other parties 15.1%
Local parties 10.2%

City of Freiburg
CDU (conservative): 18.3%
SPD (social-democrat) 16.7%
Grüne (Greens) 24.3%
FDP (liberal) 4.8%
Local groups and other parties 35.9%


Follow @City_Mayors