Die bayerische Landtagswahl vom 8. Oktober 2023: Votum für Kontinuität der schwarz-orangenen Koalition

Abstract

The Bavarian election on October 8, 2023, has led to a shift to the right . The Free Voters and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) are the election winners and are once again making significant gains compared to 2018 . The parties of the Berlin coalition are the election los- ers . The Greens, in particular, received fewer votes than five years earlier, but together with the Free Voters and the AfD, they remain relatively equal behind the still dominant Chris- tian Social Union (CSU) . The CSU remains on its lowest result since 1950 and the SPD achieved its worst result in a German western state . The Liberals are punished the hardest, failing to reach the 5%-threshold for the seventh time in ten parliamentary terms . Massive problems such as rising inflation and energy prices, as well as increasingly serious challenges posed by climate change, migration and increasing right-wing populism, are also putting the wealthy state of Bavaria to the test and allowing state-specific issues to take a back seat in the election . The decisive factors for the election result were the general satisfaction with the work of the Prime Minister, the desire for stability and continuity in difficult times, but also a growing concern that the CSU can no longer cope with the growing problems on its own . That is why the citizens voted for the continuation of the black-orange coalition, which was formed only 19 days after the election .