Pro-independence party stagnates in Bavaria as German anti-Islamic right grows

Regionalist CSU wins election again, but loses absolute majority

15.10.201810.45h

Markus Söder (CSU), minister-president of Bavaria. Author: CSU/Jörg Koch

The CSU (Christian democrat regionalists, Bavarian partners of chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU) once again won the election to the Bavarian Parliament, although by losing ground to German nationalist, anti-Islamic right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), the party that became the third largest in the country in the 2017 federal election. AfD gets a a significant result in one of Germany’s richest and most populous states by capturing 10% of the votes and 22 seats. Meanwhile, pro-independence Bavarian Party (BP) is once more unable to return to the Bavarian Parliament.

The CSU has lost the absolute majority it previously held, and although it remains the largest party with 85 seats of a total 205, it has lost ten percentage points (37%, down from 47% in 2013) and is now in the need to look for an agreement with another party to achieve a combined majority.

To the centre-left, historic changes are seen as The Greens doubled their previous support and became the second largest party in Bavaria with 17% of votes and 38 seats, while the SPD (social democrats) lost half of their support and were left with 9.7% of the votes and 22 seats.

Meanwhile the Free Voters (regionalist centrists) improved their results almost getting 12% of the votes and securing 27 seats. Liberal FDP barely made it to the Bavarian Parliament (5.1% of the votes, 11 seats).

Pro-independence Bavarian Party (conservative, member of the European Free Alliance) was unable to consolidate its upward trend in recent elections and slightly slowed down, with 1.7% of the votes (in 2013 it was 2.1 %) and is again left outside the Parliament. The BP captured seats for the last time in 1962.