Joachim Streit becomes the top candidate of the Free Voters in Bitburg!

Joachim Streit becomes the top candidate of the Free Voters in Bitburg!

Politics is currently going haywire! On September 6, 2025, a crucial party conference of the Free Voters took place in Bitburg, where the state list for the upcoming state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate was drawn up. How n-tv reports, Joachim Streit was nominated as the top candidate. This means that the most prominent face of the Free Voters will be at the forefront when voters cast their votes on March 22, 2026.

Streit, who is currently a member of the European Parliament, plans to resign his mandate if his party succeeds in entering the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament. In second and third place on the newly drawn up list are the state chairmen Lisa-Marie Jeckel and Christian Zöpfchen. The Free Voters have a clear goal: They are aiming for a total of seven percent of the vote in order to enter the state government.

Setbacks and challenges

Despite a certain level of confidence, there are also downsides. The Free Voters entered the state parliament for the first time in 2021, but internal differences in the group led to two resignations last year, which reduced the number of members below the necessary limit of five. The parliamentary group was dissolved and the remaining MPs have been working as a parliamentary group in the state parliament ever since. This is a real setback for the party, which is once again very popular and wants to build on its past successes rheinpfalz.de reported.

Another interesting detail: There is a Mercedes minibus with the Free Voters logo in front of the party headquarters in Koblenz, which is sure to attract attention. This shows that the party is ready to throw itself into the election campaign in order to get back into the state parliament.

Look into the past

A look back at the past state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate provides an interesting context. Until 1987, elections took place every four years, but since then they have changed every five years. In the last election in 2021, voter turnout was 64.4%, and the SPD received the most votes with 35.7%. The Free Voters have to prepare for a hard-fought election, especially after the internal difficulties of recent years, while political strategists like Hubert Aiwanger are also positioning themselves before the elections.

The Rhineland-Palatinate elections are not only important for the Free Voters, but generally show how changeable the political landscape is. The Free Voters seem ready to face these challenges and are trying to show voters that they can be a serious force in the state parliament. With Joachim Streit at the helm, they are probably on a promising path.