Despite the election defeats, the SPD continues to claim a “strong and leading role” in Berlin state politics, according to its main wife, Franziska Giffey. His goal was for the city hall to remain red, the ruling mayor said. Now conversations with other parties should show to what extent this is possible. However, the SPD has a “claim to continue to help shape this city”. Giffey did not respond to the question whether that meant, in any way, that she herself should remain in office.
From his point of view, talks with CDU, Verdes and Esquerda are about exploring substantive intersections, finding a stable political majority in the Chamber of Deputies and accepting “needs for change”, said Giffey. If the red-green-red alliance continues, it would mean that last year’s coalition agreement “cannot stay the way it is”. There must be changes with regard to homeland security, transportation policy, the housing market, and administrative reform.
In Sunday’s rerun elections, the CDU was clearly the stronger force, with 28.2 percent of the vote, about ten percentage points higher than in the September 2021 election. this as a “clear mandate from the government” for his party. “Berliners chose change.” CDU leader Friedrich Merz also said: “The current Senate may still have a mathematical majority in the House of Representatives, politically it lost the majority yesterday.”
Wegner now wants to conduct exploratory talks “very quickly” with the SPD and the Greens, with whom he could form a coalition. The Greens’ lead candidate, Bettina Jarasch, said, however, that she “would like” to continue the current red-green-red-same coalition under Giffey. It will not fail on the left, said the left’s main candidate, Klaus Lederer. Federal SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has also campaigned for this coalition – under Giffey’s leadership: “She’s the right person,” he said.
At the same time, Giffey made it clear that the current government would remain in office until a new one was formed. “The Senate is fully capable of acting.” His party, like the Greens, won 18.4%, the SPD had 105 votes more than the Greens by a hair’s breadth. Giffey clearly rejected the idea that, given such narrow leadership, the Greens and the SPD could each provide half of the remaining legislative term as ruling mayor: she “was not available for that”. Asked if she would also work in a CDU-led state government, Giffey replied that she couldn’t say that at the moment. First, the Berlin SPD board had to deal with the result.
State Return Officer is not currently starting a recount
In the election, the FDP fell short of the 5% barrier with 4.6% and will no longer have representation in the Chamber of Deputies. The left represented 12.2 percent and the AfD 9.1 percent. The provisional official final result was published late in the evening by the state official. Despite the SPD’s very narrow lead over the Greens, he currently sees no reason for a recount. Stephan Bröchler told a press conference that the small distance or the political importance of the order in which the government was formed are not reasons for this.
The difference is “very small indeed,” said Bröchler. “But 105 votes is also a fact.” So far there have been no indications of specific counting errors. In the morning, Bröchler had said that the numbers would be analyzed closely and the result discussed with the lawyers. This happened in the interim, he said in the late afternoon. District devolution officers and committees are now accountable. If parties or individual MPs demanded a recount in certain constituencies, they would have to contact them.
SPD deputy statesman demands a fresh start in his party
In the Berlin SPD, however, it is now roaring. State Vice President Kian Niroomand called for an honest review. “The result is a turning point for us,” he told the German Press Agency. “It can’t go on like this.” The SPD must “humbly accept electoral defeat” and question how it wants to position itself for the future – which can be understood as a criticism of Giffey. Niroomand urged calm discussion and not committing too quickly to alliances.
In the Red-Green-Red coalition, things had gotten complicated repeatedly over the past year. The SPD and the Greens obviously want to draw conclusions from this. “Regardless of the constellation we operate in: changes are needed in the city and government cooperation – there’s a lot to work on,” Giffey said. In view of the apparently close election result, she hopes for a “really cooperative” approach, emphasized Jarasch. Her party, the Greens, lost far fewer votes than the Social Democrats on Sunday.
In the federal government, the FDP wants to differentiate itself more strongly from the Greens and the SPD
In the aftermath of his party’s recent defeat in a state election, FDP federal leader Christian Lindner announced that he wanted to promote more liberal positions in the federal traffic light coalition. “An anti-car policy is obviously not in the interests of the people,” he told his green coalition partner. Illegal immigration into Germany must also be limited, Lindner demanded. People don’t let “politically correct arguments” talk them out of problems with integration.
The presidents of the SPD and the Greens did not speak about this in their press conferences on Monday. Instead, Saskia Esken (SPD) and Ricarda Lang (Greens) deliberately forgave. It is regrettable that the FDP did not make it to the Berlin House of Representatives, both said almost in unison. You didn’t want that.