Conservatives remain strongest force in Hesse's local elections

The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz remained the strongest force in local elections in the western central German state of Hesse on Sunday, according to preliminary results.

The CDU secured 29.7% of the vote across the state, according to preliminary results released in the early hours of Monday by the state statistical office in Wiesbaden, followed by the Social Democrats (SPD), their junior partner in the national government with 20.2%.

The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which came in second in federal elections last year, looked set to improve from the 6.9% it won five years ago to 15.9% for third place.

According to the preliminary results, the Greens came fourth this time with 14.4%, while The Left received 5.8% and the Free Democrats (FDP) 3.7%.

Voter turnout stood at 54.4%, up from 50.4% in the election five years ago.

According to the state's statistical office, the preliminary result includes ballot papers that indicated a choice solely for a party list; papers with votes for individual candidates were not yet included and will be counted later.

In Sunday's vote, almost 4.7 million people were eligible to vote in Hesse, including around 430,000 EU nationals. Candidates from a total of 24 parties and 555 electoral groups had thrown their hats into the ring for a seat in the local councils.