News of the week - Three state elections

Last week, it was election time again, in three of Germany's 16 federal states. On Sunday, the people could go to the polls in Reinland-Pfalz, Baden-Württemberg, and Sachsen-Anhalt. These elections were particularly important because they count as a probe for the popularity of the current "big coalition" in Berlin, between the CDU and the SPD.

In short, the results were as follows:
-In Baden-Württemberg the CDU remained the biggest party. The SPD lost dramatically, whereas the other parties (liberals, and left wing parties) all reached better results than in 2001. Most likely, the CDU will form a government with the liberal FDP again.
-In Reinland-Pfalz, the SPD reached a majority in parlament, and can form a goverment by themselves. The FDP will disappear from the goverment.
-In Sachsen-Anhalt, both the CDU as well as the liberal FDP lost many seats in parlement. Still, the CDU remained the biggest party, and will form a "large coalition" with the SPD. The FDP lost government participation here as well.

Especially the prominent SPD and CDU politicians showed themselves very satisfied with the results: in all states, their prime ministers can keep their positions and a new state with a "large coalition" can be formed. It seems to be the result that the SPD and CDU needed to claim that there is broad support in society for the course the large coalition in Berlin has taken. Yet, with a voter turnout of around 43 percent, a record low in Germany, it is questionable whether this opinion is shared by the majority of the Germans.