At 09:00 (Greek time) the polls that will be elected mayors and regional governors, municipal and regional councils in North Rhine-Westphalia. “It’s not just local elections,” analysts say. The central stake is whether the parties of the Democratic Center can still form majorities without the participation of the left and the far -right.

Northern Rhine-Westphalia, its most populous state Germany With 18 million inhabitants and the richest of the country, it is often considered a “barometer” of trends for the whole federation. The 396 municipalities and 31 regions have the right to vote 13.7 million people over 16 years of age, including citizens of other European Union member states who have enrolled in a municipality of the state at least 16 days before the elections.

At the top of the agenda and in these elections, the migration was found, despite the fact that the number of immigrant arrivals and refugee hosting centers have no longer overloaded in recent months. Citizens are also strongly concerned with the issue of security – in the state they have in recent years been bloody Islamist attacks – while voters are also of great interest in education issues, mainly for staff shortages and mortgage shortages. “Green issues, such as sustainability and climate, are still significant, but not to the extent that they were in the previous elections in 2020,” observes Political Science Professor at the University of Munter Norbert Kurses in an interview with Zeit. Although issues of local interest are considered in today’s elections, the dissatisfaction with the federal government coalition is great and is expected to be reflected locally.

According to the latest poll by the Forsa Institute, the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) leads with 32% followed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 22%, Greens and Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 14% and the left with 6%. In most areas the limit is 5% and in some 3%.

“This is not just local elections. The fact that they are of national political importance is undeniable, “the WDR professor of Political Science at Bochum Oliver Lebke, told Northwest Germany. Chancellor Mertz himself recently admitted that he would consider very carefully the situation that would arise from the election and said he was determined to fight very hard “on the right issues and the direction of the state”. He even predicted that his party, the CDU, will remain first force in North Rhine-Westphalia, as has been the case in recent decades.

The ballots in Beethoven’s homeland and Conrad Adenauer will close at 19:00 (Greek time), when the first vote estimate will be made public. Half an hour later the flow of official results are expected to begin.