In the last state election in Lower Saxony on Sunday, the 9th of October, the SPD emerged as the winner, if the bourgeois media have their way, even as the "clear winner".

It won 34.2 % of all first votes and 33.4 % of all second votes, which, as we know, is the more important figure, because it is the distribution of seats in the state parliament that is at stake. It is now likely that the SPD will enter into a coalition with the Greens; first exploratory talks are planned for this week. This coalition would then receive 38.7% of all second votes. Not a large majority in itself, but it is worth taking a look at the absolute figures.
In Lower Saxony, 6,064092 people were eligible to vote this year, and 3,657431 people went to the polls. Compared to the last state election in 2017 (turnout 63.11%), this was 2.8% less.

It is clear that the SPD suffered particularly from a loss of votes: while in 2017 36.9% of all voters voted for the SPD, in this election it was only 33.4%. This is not a good result in the federal state, which is also known as the SPD felt, since the SPD has an undisputed influence there and (in part) really does as it pleases, and the SPD's cadre school is also located here.
Nevertheless, it is now in a position to form the government, after all, its (probable) coalition partner, The Greens, has gained votes. But what sounds like a 38.7% approval rating doesn't look very good in absolute terms either: The coalition would end up with an approval rating of only 28.66 % of all eligible voters. This means that a coalition would be in government that does not even represent a third of the state - "true democracy" looks different.
But it is not only the SPD that has lost votes. Apart from the Greens and the AfD, all the major bourgeois parties have lost votes. The government party FDP did not even make it into the state parliament. This also means that approval for the current federal government in Lower Saxony is not all that high and is just further proof of the crisis-ridden nature of the current federal government. But the CDU has also suffered heavy losses and the Left Party continues its journey into the hole of irrelevance.
In sum, this election is a reconfirmation of the crisis of democracy. Votes for the established parties are falling steadily, turnout continues to plummet and even the turnout resuscitation project the AfD can no longer help.