Election year 2026 | Lower Saxony: There is no change of course

Volkswagen is an important economic engine in Lower Saxony. The company's crisis therefore also had an impact on the local elections. Photo: dpa/Moritz Frankenberg Even though the AfD was able to make double-digit gains in the local elections in Lower Saxony, it should be noted that the traditional party ties in Lower Saxony still exist. This is perhaps the most important finding from the local elections. The country's social structure has always been quite different, and voting behavior is correspondingly different: The rural Oldenburger Münsterland is characterized by agriculture - especially animal fattening. The CDU has been performing strongly there for decades. Friesland on the coast, on the other hand, is an SPD stronghold, as is southern Lower Saxony.

The election did not fundamentally change the political balance of power, as a look at the major cities also shows: In Hanover there is a runoff election between the incumbent Belit Onay (Greens) and his deputy Axel von der Ohe (SPD), in Braunschweig the CDU representative Maximilian Pohler made it into the runoff election against incumbent Thorsten Kornblum (SPD). In Göttingen, the Greens expect Onyeka Oshionwu to have a chance at the mayor's post. The familiar patterns can also be seen in cities. The Greens and the Left achieve their strongest results there. The Left got 5.9 percent nationwide, an increase of 3.1 percentage points.

Nevertheless, the AfD can feel like the election winner more than any other party. Nationwide, it increased by 11.9 percentage points and now averages 16.5 percent. It was able to increase significantly in almost all regions, although to very different extents. Especially in many larger cities, the gap to the leading parties remains considerable.

But the far-right party was able to benefit in particular from the VW crisis. It has made significant gains in the vicinity of many car factories in the east of the country; in Salzgitter it has even become the strongest force and its top candidate Patricia Mair is moving into the runoff election for the mayor's office.

What is striking is the topics the AfD is focusing on there: in addition to internal security, especially securing jobs, protecting life performance and affordable heating. These are topics on which many people had previously attributed particular competence to the SPD. Now the AfD is also benefiting in Lower Saxony from the uncertainty associated with the threat of mass layoffs at VW. And it is precisely here that it becomes clear that after the gains in the local elections in Lower Saxony, the AfD does not have far to go to reach the center of society.

The »nd.Genossenschaft« belongs to the people who make it possible: our readers and authors. They are the ones who ensure left-wing journalism for everyone with their contribution: without profit maximization, media companies or tech billionaires.

→ report independently and critically → make topics visible that would otherwise go unnoticed → make voices heard that are often ignored → counter disinformation with facts → initiate and deepen left-wing debates

“Pay voluntarily” now and support the financing of our solidarity-based newspaper. So that nd remains.