Formation of government: First government from SPD and BSW in office – setback for Woidke

The first nationwide coalition of the SPD and BSW started with a setback in Brandenburg: the Social Democrat Dietmar Woidke was re-elected as Prime Minister by the state parliament, but only in the second round. Woidke still sees a good basis for starting work now.

In the second round of voting, Woidke received opposition votes

In the second round of voting, 50 MPs voted for Woidke in a secret vote, 36 MPs voted against him and one MP abstained. 45 yes votes were necessary for the election. The SPD and BSW have a total of 46 members.

Woidke, who took the oath of office after the election, also received yes votes from the opposition. Because of the secret voting in voting booths, it remains unclear by whom.

CDU parliamentary group leader suspects AfD votes in Woidke’s election

The Brandenburg CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann expressed the assumption that Woidke had been re-elected with votes from the AfD. He said: “Dietmar Woidke is the second Prime Minister after Thomas Kemmerich to come into office with the votes of the AfD.” There was no consent for this coalition from the CDU, he wrote on Platform X.

AfD parliamentary group leader Hans-Christoph Berndt excluded votes from his ranks in Woidke’s election. “That is impossible. Everyone knows that the votes for Woidke could only have come from the CDU (…).”

Woidke himself said in an interview with RTL/ntv that it was impossible to find out who voted and how. “Well, that’s also (…) wasted time. We should concentrate on the tasks.”

So far, one shaky candidate was known from the ranks of the BSW: Sven Hornauf from Frankfurt (Oder) had declared that he would not vote because of criticism of the deployment of the Arrow 3 missile defense system at the Holzdorf Woidke air base.

Woidke: The work really begins today

“Today is the day when the work really begins,” said the head of government after his re-election, which he described as a great leap of faith. He was elected head of government for the fourth time – but the first three times were always in the first round. The SPD politician was accompanied in the state parliament by his wife Susanne and other family members. The new Finance Minister Robert Crumbach came with his partner, among others.

New ministers appointed – with one exception

After the appointment and swearing in of nine ministers, the SPD and BSW government took office. However, the designated Agriculture Minister Hanka Mittelstädt (SPD) still has to wait for the certificate of appointment until the final separation from her own agricultural business has been completed.

Survey: Skepticism about new alliance

The Wagenknecht alliance was only founded this year and is still considered politically quite inexperienced. According to a survey, there are greater reservations about the alliance among the population: 61 percent of those surveyed in Brandenburg rated the coalition as less good or bad.

Investigations into the new minister because of his bachelor’s degree

Shortly before the appointment, it became known that the Potsdam public prosecutor’s office was investigating the new Economics Minister Daniel Keller (SPD) for possibly misusing an academic title. According to press reports, an investigation was initiated, said public prosecutor Hanna Urban when asked.

Keller said this morning that he had no knowledge of any public prosecutor’s investigations. He “informed both the state parliament and my parliamentary group that I had successfully completed my bachelor’s degree in political science, administrative science and sociology. That is also what the university confirmed to me.”

The election of the Prime Minister is still imminent in Thuringia

The election of the new head of government is also on the agenda in Thuringia on Thursday. The CDU politician Mario Voigt then wants to be elected as Bodo Ramelow’s successor with votes from the CDU, SPD and BSW. Unlike the SPD/BSW alliance in Brandenburg with 44 out of 88 MPs, the so-called blackberry coalition in Erfurt does not have its own majority.

The SPD has ruled Brandenburg since 1990

The SPD in Brandenburg has led the state governments in Potsdam since 1990. Woidke most recently ruled at the head of an alliance of the SPD, CDU and Greens. After the election on September 22nd, in which the Social Democrats came in first after catching up, the new SPD/BSW alliance was the only option as both parties had ruled out working with the AfD.

Woidke names business and education as major tasks

Prime Minister Woidke named some major tasks for the government. “Firstly, we have the great challenge of maintaining economic development in the state of Brandenburg at a good level.” The country also needs to improve in the education sector. Migration policy is about rapid integration into the labor market.