It is a catch-up race with a good outcome for the SPD, which has governed Brandenburg since 1990: While it narrowly leaves the AfD behind, election night turns into a disaster for the other traffic light parties.
In the state elections in Brandenburg, the SPD led by Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke prevailed against the AfD and once again became the strongest force. According to the preliminary official result, they are followed by the new alliance of Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) and the CDU, which has achieved the worst result in East Germany since 1990. According to the state election commission, the Greens, the Left, the FDP and BVB/Free Voters remain below the five percent hurdle and are not represented in the state parliament.
Woidke could thus continue to govern after eleven years in office – either an alliance with the BSW or a three-party coalition with the BSW and the CDU would be possible.
According to the preliminary official result, the SPD achieved 30.9 percent (2019: 26.2 percent). The AfD, which had long been ahead in polls and which was classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist party, came in at 29.2 percent. The Sahra Wagenknecht coalition, which was running for the first time, came in third with 13.5 percent, while the CDU only achieved 12.1 percent. The Greens, the Left, the FDP and the Free Voters failed to clear the five percent hurdle and did not win a direct mandate that would have helped them enter the state parliament.
At 72.9 percent, voter turnout was higher than ever before in state elections in Brandenburg. Around 2.1 million people were called to vote – that is fewer eligible voters than in Berlin.
The SPD has 32 seats in the state parliament (2019: 25), the AfD 30 (23). The BSW therefore receives 14 seats, the CDU 12 (15). A majority requires 45 seats.
According to the preliminary official result, the AfD will have more than a third of the seats in the state parliament and thus a so-called blocking minority. This means that it can block decisions and elections in the state parliament that require a two-thirds majority, for example the election of constitutional judges. Constitutional changes are only possible with such a qualified majority. The AfD also won a blocking minority in the state elections in Thuringia three weeks ago.
SPD can breathe a sigh of relief
After recent poor results in the European elections and the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, the SPD can now breathe a sigh of relief – also at the federal level. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) can hope for a slight tailwind for the federal election campaign. “It’s great that we won,” he said during his visit to New York. “I felt that something was happening.” In view of the success, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil and top candidate Woidke backed Scholz as candidate for chancellor in the 2025 federal election.
Since reunification in 1990, the Social Democrats have consistently provided the Prime Minister in Brandenburg. During the election campaign, the 62-year-old incumbent Woidke deliberately did not make major joint appearances with Scholz – probably also because of the poor poll ratings of the Berlin traffic light coalition.
Difficult formation of a government
Before the election, Woidke had announced that he would only continue to hold government responsibility if the SPD became the strongest force – and he has now achieved that. However, a continuation of the coalition of SPD, CDU and Greens, which has governed since 2019, is not possible.
The SPD had gained significantly in the polls immediately before the election. “We have managed to catch up in a way that has never been seen before in the history of our country,” said Woidke, referring to the AfD, which had been in the lead for a long time. As so often in history, it was the Social Democrats “who stopped extremists on their way to power.” Woidke announced that he would first talk to the CDU about forming a government coalition.
The general secretary of the federal CDU, Carsten Linnemann, spoke of a “bitter defeat”. Woidke had put everything on the line with his threat to resign – and won. “That’s what credibility looks like.” The CDU’s top candidate Jan Redmann does not want to resign from the state chairmanship after the election defeat. “That would be the completely wrong signal,” he said.
Left Party top candidate Sebastian Walter called his party’s result “disastrous”. Many people did not vote for the SPD “out of conviction”, but because of the “prime minister’s panic campaign” against the AfD.
No party wants to govern with AfD
Despite its good performance, the AfD has no prospect of participating in government: no other party wants to work with it. Federal party leader Tino Chrupalla said that the goal of “sending Woidke into retirement” had been missed. But the East German elections in Thuringia, Saxony and now Brandenburg were successful: “We won gold once and silver twice.” The AfD’s rise in strength is also fueling concerns abroad about a shift to the right in Germany, for example among EU and NATO partners.
The Central Council of Jews expressed concern. “If almost a third of voters want to see a destructive political party like the AfD in power again and a populist force like the BSW once again reaches double digits, then we cannot be unaffected by this,” said Central Council President Josef Schuster.
FDP Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki said of the poor performance of his party and the Greens: “People are fed up with the traffic light coalition.” He gives the federal government coalition only two to three weeks to solve fundamental problems in economic and migration policy. Otherwise, it no longer makes sense for the FDP “to continue to participate in this coalition,” said Kubicki.
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.
