German Chancellor's party Olaf ScholzThe Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) announced today that it sees no need to change its current attitude towards the war in Ukraine, after yesterday's election defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous province and so far a stronghold of the SPD.

Government spokesman Stephen Hebstraight Scholz said he was "firmly convinced that a measured and carefully considered policy course towards Ukraine is important and that a large part of the population supports it". He stressed that the elections in North Rhine-Westphalia are primarily regional elections.

Lars Klingbayl, one of the SPD leaders, said that "there is no need to change anything". He said he had seen clear support for the party's current policy on arms supplies to Ukraine and the gradual cessation of Russian gas imports during the campaign, as "jobs in industrialized countries such as North Rhine-Westphalia will not be jeopardized".

He added that his party should better explain to voters what it is doing. "The government's policy clearly shows that we stand by Ukraine without 'but' and 'if', but we have allowed too much talk about sending weapons and too little about the cost of living and rising energy prices," Klingbale said.

The main center-right opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won 35,7 per cent of the vote in yesterday's provincial election, nine per cent more than Scholz's SPD, despite expectations that the outcome would be uncertain. The Green Party won 18,2 percent of the vote, almost three times more than the previous election result. Turnout was low, 55,5 percent.