CDU Ends 35 Years of SPD Rule in Rhineland-Palatinate as AfD Hits Record High

The CDU won regional elections in Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday, March 22, 2026, capturing approximately 30.5% of the vote and ending 35 years of uninterrupted SPD rule in the western state, according to exit polls and initial projections from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. The Social Democrats, who had governed the state since 1991, received approximately 27% of the vote — their worst result in Rhineland-Palatinate since 1955, when the party won 31.7%. The far-right Alternative for Germany party recorded approximately 20% of the vote, a record for the party in any western German state. CDU lead candidate Gordon Schnieder, 50, a former tax official and chairman of the state CDU since 2024, is set to become the next minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate, most likely heading a grand coalition with the SPD.

CDU: 30.5, SPD: 27, AfD: 20, Greens: 7.7, Left: 4.5, Free Voters: 4, FDP: 2.1

Schnieder celebrates as SPD concedes historic defeat Gordon Schnieder addressed supporters at CDU headquarters as chants of "Gordon Schnieder olé" broke out in the crowd. „"The CDU is back in Rhineland-Palatinate: it will no longer be possible to govern here without us! Voters have asked for change and we have to completely turn around education, security and healthcare, we are going to get back on our feet!"” — Gordon Schnieder via ABC Outgoing minister-president Alexander Schweitzer, who had governed the state since July 2024 after taking over from Malu Dreyer, had announced before the election that he would step down in the event of a defeat. The SPD's general secretary Tim Klüssendorf acknowledged from Berlin the party's "large share of responsibility for the bad result," according to ABC. Party leadership in Berlin also spoke of a "loss of negotiating authority," warning that a weakened SPD would face greater difficulty asserting its priorities within the federal coalition cabinet. The Willy Brandt House also anticipated "greater internal pressure" from within the party's more left-leaning factions following the result.

AfD's western surge complicates autumn electoral outlook The AfD's 20% result in Rhineland-Palatinate represents a sharp rise from the 8.3% the party recorded in the 2021 state election, an increase of nearly 12 percentage points. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel hailed the outcome on X as a "great success," noting that the party had grown from 12% to 20% and crediting strong opposition work. Analysts noted that the AfD drew heavily from voters who had not participated in the previous regional election. Despite the strong result, all other parties had ruled out coalition talks with the AfD before the vote, making Gordon Schnieder's CDU the only realistic anchor of a new state government. The result carries national implications: at the federal level, the AfD is polling neck-and-neck with the CDU/CSU at around 25%, and the party is targeting outright victories in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt in September, as well as a strong showing in Berlin. The Greens received 7.7% of the vote, down from 9.3% in 2021, while the FDP collapsed to 2.1% and failed to clear the 5% threshold required to enter the state parliament.

Merz gets relief, but economy and coalition tensions linger For Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has led Germany since May 2025, the Rhineland-Palatinate result provides a measure of relief after his party lost the March 8 state election in neighboring Baden-Württemberg to the Greens. Merz has faced criticism for the slow pace of economic reforms in a country whose competitiveness has been weakened by the shift away from Russian gas and further strained by the ongoing war in Iran and a trade dispute with the United States. Conflicts within his federal coalition with the SPD have been regularly cited by commentators, and the SPD's successive regional defeats are expected to intensify those tensions. The Rhineland-Palatinate result is the second of five regional elections scheduled for 2026, with the most consequential contests set for September in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Saxony-Anhalt. Rhineland-Palatinate has been an SPD stronghold since 1991, when the party first took control of the state government. The previous lowest SPD result in the state dated to 1955, when the party won 31.7% of the vote, according to Deutsche Welle. The AfD won 8.3% in the 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate election, making its 2026 result of approximately 20% a near-tripling of its support in the state. In Baden-Württemberg on March 8, 2026, the SPD fell to a historic low of 5.5%, narrowly clearing the parliamentary threshold. A CDU-SPD grand coalition at the state level is considered the most likely outcome, mirroring the structure of the federal government in Berlin, though the final vote count — including a large share of postal ballots — had not yet been completed at the time of initial projections. 69 (%) — voter turnout in the Rhineland-Palatinate state election