Who won the race for victory in the Berlin House of Representatives? This question was still open when this edition went to press, as the two previous government partners, the SPD and the Greens, were very close together in the projections. The difference in the various prognoses was minimal with less than half a percentage point (once with advantage SPD, once with advantage Greens).
The Social Democrats started with the former Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey as the new top candidate. The previous Governing Mayor Michael Müller had applied for a mandate in the Bundestag. “We have made significant progress,” Giffey tried to gain from the election result positively. A few weeks ago, the social democrats were forecast to have a clear crash in the polls.
The top candidate of the Greens, Bettina Jarasch, derived from the result a claim to leadership in the federal capital. After all, your party has gained more than seven percentage points to more than 22 percent. “After a race to catch up, we managed to hold a climate election,” said Jarasch, and campaigned for the continuation of the “progressive coalition” with the SPD. So far, the alliance has also included the “Left” – however, this has suffered a loss of around two percent.
The red-red-green alliance could now be continued – possibly under the leadership of the Greens. For SPD candidate Giffey, however, a majority could also be possible from the second position with the CDU and FDP. However, the CDU recorded a loss of votes similar to that of the “Left”. However, leading candidate Kai Wegner blamed the national trend for the “bad result”, “which has blown us in the face”.
Incidentally, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) suffered the highest loss – minus seven percentage points. The FDP, on the other hand, increased slightly.
Out of ballot papers
Shortly before the official closure of the polling stations in Berlin, voters were still queuing up in many places to be able to make their cross. The reason for this: Several polling stations even had to close at times because the ballot papers ran out and a corresponding delivery was delayed. Some polling stations also received false ballot papers. Anyone who was still in the queue at 6 p.m. could still exercise their voting rights afterwards. (eku)
