Will a two-party alliance led by the CDU Berlin rule in the future – or will the previous coalition continue despite its losses? The Union sees a clear government mandate in the clear election victory.
After his party’s victory in the Berlin election, CDU leader Friedrich Merz sees a clear mandate for the CDU to form a government. The SPD, the Greens and the Left are also considering continuing their previous tripartite alliance. Mathematically, this would be just as possible despite the clear lead of the CDU as black-green or black-red.
“The current Senate may still have an arithmetical majority in the House of Representatives, politically it gambled away the majority yesterday,” said Merz. CDU top candidate Kai Wegner raises a clear claim to government and presses the temp: He wanted to invite the SPD and Greens to sound out on Monday evening. The aim is to hold talks this week or early next week, Wegner told the German Press Agency on Monday. “Now is not the time for tacticians, now is the time for doers.”
The CDU got 28.2 percent of the votes on Sunday (2021: 18.0 percent) – their strongest result in the capital for a good 20 years. “The Berliners have chosen the change,” said Wegner.
With 18.4 percent, the SPD did worse than ever in a post-war Berlin election (2021: 21.4). The Greens also got 18.4 percent (18.9), but were 105 votes behind the Social Democrats. The left came to 12.2 percent (14.1), the AfD increased to 9.1 percent (8.0). It was a bitter election evening for the FDP, which was expelled from another state parliament with 4.6 percent (7.1).
Giffey: “Are there so that the Red City Hall stays red”
Despite the SPD’s electoral defeat, Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) claims an important role for her party in the future state government. “We started the election campaign so that the Red City Hall stays red, that was our goal, and of course we will also have talks to explore the extent to which such a continuation is possible,” said Giffey after consultations with the SPD in the Willy Brandt House in Berlin. As the second strongest force, the SPD claims to “continue to shape this city,” said Giffey.
After a meeting of the SPD state board on Monday evening, Giffey said there was a “clear tendency” on the board towards a continuation of red-green-red. But the CDU should also be explored. “We have agreed that we are going into exploratory talks with the CDU, but also with our coalition partners.” On the question of a possible resignation, Giffey said: “My party gave me backing on the federal executive board today, and the state executive board did the same.” SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said in Erfurt that evening that Giffey should be given the opportunity to “change things in Berlin” for more than a year.
Greens top candidate Bettina Jarasch also wants to hold initial talks with the CDU about a possible government formation. However, she does not believe that a black-green coalition would be conceivable without significant concessions from the CDU. The Mobility and Environment Senator emphasized again that she favors a continuation of the coalition of SPD, Greens and Left. You can well imagine working with Giffey again. The Greens want to accept the conceivable narrow lead of the SPD. “If there is an official result at the end, then so be it.”
Berlin’s Left Party leader Katina Schubert sees a stable coalition only in the continuation of Red-Green-Red. From the point of view of the AfD, however, the continuation of the alliance would be a disregard for the will of the electorate. The result shows that the previous governing coalition “was clearly voted out,” said party leader Tino Chrupalla in Berlin.
Berlin SPD Vice: “It can’t go on like this”
The Berlin SPD Vice Kian Niroomand described the poor result of his party as a turning point. “It can’t go on like this,” Niroomand told dpa. The SPD must “accept their election defeat with humility” and question how they want to position themselves for the future. The SPD parliamentary group leader and co-state chairman Raed Saleh said the SPD would hold talks with the democratic parties “to explore the best path for the city”. This applies in particular to the previous coalition partners.
In the meantime, the state returning authority sees no reason for recounts due to the SPD’s very narrow lead over the Greens. So far there have been no indications of specific counting errors, said state returning officer Stephan Bröchler.
According to him, there will be 159 seats in the Berlin House of Representatives. Of these, the CDU received 52. The SPD and the Greens each received 34 mandates. The Left has 22 seats, the AfD 17.
Due to serious election glitches, the state constitutional court had declared the election of the state parliament in September 2021 invalid – and ordered a repetition. At that time, long queues in front of polling stations and missing, mixed up or copied ballot papers made headlines nationwide.
State returning officer satisfied – but again “very annoying mistake”
After this election Sunday, state returning officer Bröchler was satisfied. However, there was a “very annoying error” in one of the 2,257 polling stations, he said. In the polling station in Tempelhof-Schoeneberg, 115 false ballot papers were distributed for first votes. However, that was neither relevant for the result of the first vote there nor for the outcome of the election as a whole. Other minor “very low-threshold” errors in various polling stations were quickly corrected.
Around 2.4 million people were entitled to vote in the House of Representatives. Voter turnout was 63.1 percent. In 2021 it was 75.4 percent, but at the same time the Bundestag was elected.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
