Election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia: Green coronation fair

North Rhine-Westphalia's Greens are entering the state election campaign with their state economics minister, Mona Neubaur, as the top candidate. Without an opposing candidate, the 49-year-old, who is also Vice Prime Minister of the black-green NRW state government of the Christian Democrat Hendrik Wüst, received around 84.9 percent of the votes at the party conference in the Messe Essen on Friday.

A new parliament will be elected in North Rhine-Westphalia on April 25th. At the moment, however, it is by no means certain that Wüst and Neubaur will be able to continue their surprisingly silent government. The Greens have been relatively stable in surveys since last summer between 13 and 18 percent - in the 2022 state election they achieved a record result of 18.2 percent.

In the shadow of the unpopular Chancellor Merz, Wüst's NRW CDU is also weakening: in a survey commissioned by Springer's Bild, the CDU only got 26 percent. If Wüst cannot break this trend, he would have to rely on the SPD as an additional partner to form a government.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Greens have therefore identified the Social Democrats as their main opponents. Co-federal party leader Felix Banaszak, who comes from Duisburg, is not the only one to gossip about the “former people’s party” SPD on the stage of the party conference, which is co-sponsored by the chemical companies Bayer and Evonik, but also dentists’ associations.

Banaszak also makes fun of the SPD's top candidate Jochen Ott. The Green leader mocks Ott's "fairness" campaign - and his plan to appear in shirtsleeves during the election campaign and to do without a jacket and tie: "My grandpa worked in the coking plant," explains the Green leader in Ruhrpott slang - and as a representative of "Polish Catholicism" he always wore a tie when going to church on Sundays. “If anyone had come up with such folklore, they would have said: Get away from me.”

The fixation on Ott's SPD, which is currently just ahead of the Greens: It shines through again and again at the party conference, which runs until Sunday. “Rolled-up sleeves don’t make a teacher a worker,” explains co-state parliamentary group leader Mehrdad Mostofizadeh, alluding to the job of the Social Democrat Ott. “We want to improve on the result from last time, we want to be ahead of the SPD,” promises Mostofizadeh - and is elected unopposed with 90.1 percent to number 6 on the state list, which will have a decisive influence on who will enter the state parliament again on election evening.

In terms of content, the party therefore wants to score points in the digital space with the topics of affordable rents, renewable energy, transport and women's safety. Co-party leader Tim Achtermeyer, who was also unopposed in fourth place on the list with 89.9 percent, promises voters an “affordable housing billion” that will be used to promote new buildings - the NRW Greens reject nationalizations like those planned in Berlin.

All other places up to 11th place on the list will be elected without an opposing candidate. The two deputy state parliamentary group leaders Julia Eisentraut and Michael Röls only compete against each other in 12th place. The computer scientist complains about the “tech bros” IT companies that pay “no taxes” - and narrowly loses to Röls, who focuses on his core issue of climate policy. Eisentraut is still protected: once again without an opposing candidate, the almost 280 delegates vote them in 14th place a few minutes later with 93.4 percent.

The Essen party conference should appear harmonious and radiate unity. Leading Greens believe that nothing repulses voters more than a party or government that appears divided. Environment and Transport Minister Oliver Krischer was placed second with 86.9 percent - despite thousands of dilapidated bridges and catastrophically poor local rail transport. The best result, at 95.5 percent, was achieved by former co-state parliamentary group leader Verena Schäffer, who has been the successor to the resigned Josefine Paul as Integration and Family Minister since January.

If you want, you can also see this as a hidden vote of no confidence in Neubaur: Nobody from the management team achieved a worse result than the top candidate. Despite all the harmony, Neubaur is not without controversy within the party. After the terrorist attack in Solingen in 2024, the qualified educator supported a repressive package of measures in asylum policy as well as the construction of a second deportation prison.

With her “Chemicals and Refinery Pact”, the Economics Minister is supporting the weakening of climate targets. The coal phase-out in the Rhenish lignite mining area as early as 2030 is also wobbling. Anti-nuclear initiatives also repeatedly accuse Neubaur of inaction.

As was the case at the party conference in Essen, Greens who are considered to be less conservative, such as co-party leader Banaszak and co-Bundestag parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge, who comes from Cologne, are likely to be present in the election campaign. In addition to the SPD, the Greens have another opponent who is not mentioned at all in Essen: the Left, which gets up to 10 percent in surveys in North Rhine-Westphalia - and scores particularly well with young people in big cities.