In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous land and historic Social Democratic stronghold, the SPD collects its third, very heavy defeat in a row in the local elections.
This time, however, the result has the contours of defeat: just a few months ago the party of Martin Schulz – candidate for the chancellorship and originally from North Rhine-Westphalia – was given the lead by 14%, but in the end it stopped at about 31%, sinking compared to the 39,1% obtained in 2012.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, on the other hand, gained seven points, becoming the first party in the region with 33,5 percent and sending home a red-green coalition: an alternative to the Grosse Koalition which now seems increasingly less attractive even at the federal level .
But Martin Schulz goes on. And this time it contains disappointment: “We win together and we lose together. Now we have to figure out what to change in Berlin,” he said. To the various journalists who asked him if he wanted to take a step back, he replied: "I've been president of the SPD for not even 100 days, I'm not a magician. From tomorrow we will work on the program”.
Meanwhile, the far-right AfD enters this small regional parliament for the first time with a percentage between 7,4 and 7,8%. The Greens, so far in government, plummet to 6%. And the left of the Linke, around 5%, is afraid of not overcoming the barrier. The minister president of the Land, Hannelore Kraft, criticized after 7 years for unsatisfactory results on school, safety and unemployment, immediately assumed all responsibility, resigning from her roles in the party: she was federal vice president, and leader of the Westphalian Social Democrats.
“We have 17 thousand new subscribers, we have convinced a lot of people that it is still worth it. We must make this country fairer and defend Europe from the populists", said Schulz instead, showing less bitterness than the two previous times (the first defeat in Saarland, at the end of March, the second 7 days ago in Schleswig-Holstein) for an outcome that certainly does not “leave him happy”.
Then Schulz made self-criticism: “I understood that people don't want me to talk only about social justice. Citizens want to know from me exactly what future I imagine for this country. For this reason we will be working on the program starting tomorrow, with a special session of the party. I take this criticism very seriously."
