The CDU emerged as the clear winner of the state election in Rhineland‑Palatinate. According to the provisional official final results released Sunday evening, the Christian democrats secured 31.0 percent, an increase of 3.3 percentage points. Behind them came the SPD, led by chief minister Alexander Schweitzer, which slipped to 25.9 percent – a historically poor result that falls 9.8 points lower. The numbers now point to a grand coalition with Schneider at its top.
The AfD, the third‑largest force, doubled its support compared with five years ago, taking 19.5 percent – an increase of 11.2 points. The Greens managed a fourth‑place finish with 7.9 percent, down 1.4 points; they will most likely leave the state government for the opposition. The FDP saw a drop to 2.1 percent, a loss of 3.4 points, and the Free Voters slipped to 4.2 percent, down 1.2 points – both parties exit the parliament. The Left also missed the threshold, finishing with 4.4 percent, an increase of 1.9 percent points.
The smaller parties recorded the following results: BSW 1.9 percent, the Animal Protection Party 1.6 percent, Volt 1.1 percent, ÖDP 0.5 percent, and PdH 0.1 percent.
The new parliament will comprise 105 seats. The CDU will hold 39 seats, the SPD 32, the AfD 24, and the Greens 10.
Voter turnout reached 68.5 percent, up 4.2 percentage points from five years ago, although it was noticeably lower than in the 2021 corona year’s mail‑vote turnout.