tagesschau 20:00 Uhr, 22.03.2026

The German news broadcast covers the Rheinland-Pfalz state election as its lead story, where the CDU ended 35 years of SPD dominance, alongside a Munich mayoral runoff, escalating Middle East tensions involving Iran and Israel, Bundesliga results, and a weather forecast.

Rheinland-Pfalz State Election Results

In Rheinland-Pfalz, the CDU under Gordon Schnieder emerged strongest with 30.6% of the vote, a lead that grew to nearly five points over the evening according to ARD projections. This marks their first win in eight attempts after 35 years out of power. The SPD recorded its worst result in state history at 25.7%, despite incumbent Ministerpräsident Alexander Schweitzer's efforts, which he described as fighting "like lions" and outperforming the national trend. Voter migration data shows the SPD lost over 80,000 votes to the CDU and 30,000 to the AfD, with particular weakness among workers—now only 21% support SPD there, while AfD leads at 39%. The AfD more than doubled to 20%, its best in western Germany, displacing the Greens (down to 7.9%). FDP fell to 2.1% below the 5% threshold, Freie Wähler got 4.2%, and Linke 4.4%; none enter the 101-seat parliament except the top four.