Parties: SPD nominates: Destination red-green even after 2027

Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economics Olaf Lies goes with great support from the SPD in the election as Prime Minister on May 20. At a special party conference of the SPD state association in Hanover, the 200 members unanimously supported the nomination of the 58-year-old in the presence of party leader Lars Klingbeil. Lies should follow the long -time head of government Stephan Weil, who gives up the office.

What read about predecessors because

“Let’s work together to feel people feel every day that it will be better,” said Lies and announced that he wanted to continue the coalition with the Greens beyond the 2027 state election. “We still have a lot plans and we want to continue it together.” Among the listeners were the green vice head of government Julia Willie Hamburg and Greens state chief Greta Garlichs.

With Weil, Lies thanked for the long cooperation: “You are a great role model.” Lies Minister has been under Weil for twelve years.

CDU throws tactical considerations

Because in turn, the SPD members called on to support him as closed as in previous years: “People notice exactly whether we deal too much with ourselves or whether we dealt with them and their problems.”

Lies should also inherit Weil as a SPD chairman in Lower Saxony. The state board will be re -elected on May 24th in Wolfenbüttel.

At the beginning of April, his retreat was particularly based on his age. “I’m 66 years old – and I notice that too,” he said. The CDU, on the other hand, accuses him of a tactical maneuver to provide Lies an office bonus for the 2027 election.

New cabinet: a ministry is dissolved

Despite the change at the top, a comprehensive change of course of the SPD is not to be expected: the 58-year-old Lies was already head of state of the SPD from 2010 to 2012 and has been part of the state government as an economic and environment minister for twelve years.

The successor to the Ministry of Economic Affairs is also no stranger: the previous SPD parliamentary group leader Grant Hendrik Tonne was already a minister of culture from 2017 to 2022.

Lies also plans to dissolve the Ministry of Federal and Europe affairs and to integrate it with Melanie Walter instead of Wiebke Osigus at the top into the state chancellery. Walter is the co-chair of the SPD Hannover.

Because missed record as Prime Minister

At the beginning of their national political careers, we were and read competitors. Before the 2013 state election, they competed against each other in a membership decision for the SPD top candidate. Because, then Mayor of Hanover, narrowly prevailed.

The record for the longest term of office of a Prime Minister in Lower Saxony missed because of the resignation: CDU politician Ernst Albrecht-father of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen-ruled from 1976 to 1990 and thus a little longer than because.

Despite Klingbeil and Co: Negative SPD trend also in Lower Saxony

The Lower Saxony State Association significantly shapes the direction of the SPD. With party leader and vice-chancellor Klingbeil, Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius and Bundestag faction leader Matthias Miersch, three top social democrats grew up here-so many that there was no place in the new federal government for former Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil.

The SPD also regularly cuts better in Lower Saxony than nationwide. In the 2022 state election, the SPD entered more than 33 percent – values ​​that the party in the federal government can currently only dream of. State chief Weil often acted as a bridge builder between state and federal politics.

But the curve of the SPD also points down in Lower Saxony: at 23.0 percent, it also recorded a historically worst result in the Bundestag election in February in February.