Other than ‘Schulz effect’. The vote in the small Land of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost of Germany, turns into a scorching defeat for the SPD: according to the latest spread in the evening by ZDF, the second channel of public TV, the Social Democrats of Martin Schulz, candidate at the chancellery against Angela Merkel in the political elections scheduled for September 24, they lost more than three points compared to five years ago, stopping at 26.5% of the votes, but above all they placed almost seven points under the Christian-democrats of the chancellor, that up until a few weeks ago it was still struggling in regional polls and now instead they are starting with a clear victory with 33.3% of the votes. The Greens follow with the 13 (they were at 13.2). Among the winners of the electoral round the liberals, who get the 10, 8 (they had 8.2), while the Danish minority party SSW 3.4% (they were at 4.6), Linke 3.3% and Pirates, almost disappeared, at 1.2% (in this Land they established themselves in 2012 with 8). The result of AFD was unsatisfactory, at 5.5: but the right-wing populists entered the land parliament anyway, exceeding the 5% barrier.

It is therefore not only a personal defeat for the outgoing governor Torsten Albig, credited until recently with a remarkable advantage against his opponent Daniel Guenther, but above all a cold shower, already in fact anticipated by the latest national surveys, for the so-called ‘Schulz effect’ which had dragged the SPD to win up to 10 percentage points throughout Germany, to the point of making the possibility of a change of guard at the federal chancellery seem at hand.

Today the situation has radically changed. “The government of Torsten Albig has been rejected by the voters: the citizens voted against the status quo coalition and for a CDU-led government,” Christian Democratic candidate Daniel Guenther exclaimed in applause. The first reactions of the national parties are opposite: for the CDU head of organization Peter Tauber, it is evident that the Schleswig-Holstein vote “represents a strong push both for the upcoming elections in North Rhine-Westphalia and for the federal elections”, while Katarina Barley of the SPD, while admitting “that they are bitter results”, does not think they are significant for the national vote of September 24th.

The disappointment is on the face of Schulz, when he presents himself to the cameras from the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. “I am disappointed, it is something that saddens us. With seven points away this is certainly a big success for the CDU. We had all counted on a better result. It is something that gets under our skin, which makes us sad, “says the Social Democratic leader after the publication of the first projections. “We did not manage to communicate that our government coalition together with the Greens and the Danish minority party did a great job,” the Spd secretary added. But he also tries to reject the idea that the result is significant from the point of view of the national elections and already points to a revenge in the vote of the next week in North-Rhine Westphalia,