After the state election in Baden-Württemberg, Green Party leader Cem Özdemir is not yet ready to claim victory for his party. Speaking at his party’s celebration in Stuttgart, he said, “What an election, what a spectacular catch‑up” but added that it is still too early to make final statements.
Looking forward to the expected next government, Özdemir emphasized that a “partnership at eye level” will be essential. He pointed out that campaign efforts are now over and that the focus should shift to “writing a new chapter together”. He recalled that the CDU co‑ruling party had governed for ten years “well and successfully” in the state. The collaboration yielded shared successes, and the CDU, he said, has every reason to be as proud of those achievements as the Greens are.
According to early ARD and ZDF projections, the Greens will average 31.8 percent. That would place them ahead of the CDU’s 29.8 percent, meaning Özdemir is likely to become minister‑premier under a continued Green‑CSU coalition. While the CDU could mathematically partner with the AfD, who is projected at 17.8 percent, the Christian Democrats reject that possibility. The SPD performed poorly, securing only 5.5 percent, and both the FDP (4.5 percent) and Die Linke (4.5 percent) failed to enter the Landtag.
In his first post‑election address, CDU candidate Manuel Hagel refrained from providing a judgment on the result or admitting defeat. He instead thanked all voters and supporters for their confidence. Although the CDU, which had dominated polls for months, finished second in the ARD and ZDF predictions, it achieved a clear improvement compared to its performance five years earlier.