Berlin The CDU won the elections in Berlin by a clear margin. After counting all constituencies and publication on the Internet, she received 28.2 percent of the votes on Sunday. After a neck-and-neck race, the SPD of the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey ended up just ahead of the Greens (also 18.4 percent) with 18.4 percent. The difference was only 105 votes.
The left came to 12.2 percent, the AfD reached 9.1 percent. The FDP came to 4.6 percent and will therefore no longer be a member of the House of Representatives.
So far, a coalition of SPD, Greens and Left has governed the city, and this coalition could continue. However, it is still unclear whether the Greens can also overtake the SPD and how this will shift their claims to power. The CDU is likely to lack the majority coalition options for a regency despite the election victory.
When the bar shot higher and higher at 6 p.m., the cheering in the party headquarters of the Berlin CDU was huge. The Christian Democrats had not only just replaced the SPD as the strongest force in the capital and had moved up from third to first place compared to the 2021 election. They had a triumph to celebrate.
According to the first forecasts, the CDU was clearly ahead of the SPD and the Greens. CDU top candidate Kai Wegner announces rapid exploratory talks with SPD and Greens. “We will invite to soundings,” he said. The city now deserves a functioning government again.
Giffey: “This evening is not easy”
And yet it is doubtful whether Wegner can move into the Red Town Hall. Because it is more likely that the left-wing alliance will continue to govern despite the electoral defeats of the SPD and the Greens. The question is, however, under whom. “This evening is not easy,” admitted SPD Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). The election is a “clear sign that things in Berlin want things to be different”.
Giffey himself suffered a hearty defeat in the repeat of the House of Representatives election in the fight for a direct mandate. The top candidate of the Social Democrats lost in the Neukölln 6 constituency against the CDU candidate Olaf Schenk, as could be seen on the website of the state election authority on Sunday evening. After counting all areas, Giffey had 29.6 percent of the first votes, Schenk 45.3 percent. Top candidate Giffey has a place in the House of Representatives via her party’s list.
In the September 2021 election, Giffey also ran in the Neukölln 6 constituency and clearly won the direct mandate with 40.8 percent of the first votes. It was then that she entered the House of Representatives for the first time. Previously, the 44-year-old was Federal Minister for Family Affairs from March 2018 to May 2021.
Just over 16 months after the last election, 2.4 million Berliners were again called on Sunday to elect a new state parliament. The Berlin constitutional court had declared the election in September 2021 invalid due to “serious systemic deficiencies” and numerous electoral errors. A process that is still unique in the history of the Federal Republic.
Casting her ballot at a school in Berlin-Friedrichshain on Sunday afternoon, Governing Mayor Giffey said she knew most people wished that this election did not have to be held again. But she can’t “undo the mistakes of the past,” Giffey said. At the same time, she was confident: “I have a good feeling that the Social Democrats have done everything to ensure that this election can take place.”
Redial ran smoothly
In fact, according to state returning officer Stephan Bröchler, this time the election went off without any major glitches. “There are always minor problems that arise,” said Bröchler. For example, a circuit in a telephone system did not work. The provider fixed this in a short time. In addition, more election workers than expected had reported sick due to the corona. “But we were able to compensate for that.”
However, the turnout this time was also significantly lower than in September 2021, when the federal elections took place on the same day as the Berlin elections. At that time, 75 percent of all Berliners cast their votes for the election of the new House of Representatives. This time, according to initial estimates, only 63.5 percent voted.
The candidates were the same as in the 2021 election. SPD top candidate Giffey wanted to defend the Red City Hall for the Social Democrats, her Green Environment Minister Bettina Jarasch wanted to replace her as mayor and Left Party Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer remained in the coalition of SPD, Greens and Left. CDU top candidate Wegner, on the other hand, wanted to put an end to the left-wing alliance that had been in power since 2016.
The Christian Democrats are the strongest party in Berlin for the first time in two decades.
(Photo: dpa)
Even if Wegner triumphed with his CDU, it seemed questionable on Sunday evening whether the repeat election had actually led to a political landslide in Berlin and whether the CDU was the mayor for the first time in 22 years. Because if there is a majority for the left camp and thus the chance to continue the left-wing alliance of SPD, Greens and Left Party, the three parties should do so, so the expectation before the election. losses or not.
The problem of the Berlin CDU: The Christian Democrats could lack coalition options if there is enough for a left-wing majority. The capital ticks politically to the left. The state associations of the SPD and Greens seem almost socialist compared to other state associations, and despite all the tensions, the links to the Left Party are close.
SPD top candidate Giffey kept all options open during the election campaign. “I’m not ruling anything out. Except for the AfD,” she explained and also criticized the coalition partners. SPD, Greens and Left would have managed many things. “Nevertheless, you have to look at the issues that will come up in the future: housing construction, economic development, internal security and the social city.”
These statements were taken as a sign that Giffey would rather forge a traffic light alliance with the Greens and the FDP, provided the Liberals make it into the House of Representatives. However, Giffey had also shown himself open to a traffic light coalition in 2021, but after the election he opted for a left-wing alliance. Reason for this: Giffey could not enforce a traffic light in her own national association. Nothing has changed in this situation, the left want to keep to themselves in Berlin.
Giffey’s hands were also tied because she’s not undisputed in her own ranks. At the state party conference in June 2022, she received just 58.9 percent when re-elected as state chairman, a disastrous result. Only a surprisingly good election result would have put them in a position to make their national association more docile. But that didn’t happen on Sunday.
Who is leading a new coalition?
Rather, Giffey has to worry, like in 2021, whether her SPD is even ahead of the Greens. Should the eco-party overtake the SPD, Jarasch could be the first Green politician to move into the Red City Hall. However, in this constellation, the CDU might still have a chance. Under certain circumstances, the SPD could then prefer to be a junior partner in a coalition under the CDU than a junior partner under a Green mayor, it was rumored before the election.
SPD leader Saskia Esken thinks a government coalition under Giffey is conceivable, despite losses in her party. “What the result already shows is that a government coalition under Franziska Giffey and the SPD, with the participation of the SPD, is possible,” said the politician on Sunday evening on ZDF. “The coalition that stands for cohesion in a cosmopolitan city, that thinks in terms of solutions instead of problems, that presents and promotes Berlin as a cosmopolitan city.”
According to forecasts, the CDU will be the strongest force, but the SPD with Franziska Giffey could continue to govern.
(Photo: IMAGO/Stefan Zeitz)
The Berlin election was the first of four state elections this year. From the point of view of the election strategists of the CDU and SPD, the election does not have any major national political significance, also because of the special circumstances. Nevertheless, the federal political prominence campaigned to give their parties momentum for the election year. The FDP in particular did not succeed in this. She experienced the fifth electoral defeat in a row in Berlin. FDP leader Christian Lindner should therefore face a few uncomfortable days.
The Christian Democrats are the strongest political force in the capital for the first time in around 20 years. As expected, CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja raised the leadership claim for his party in an interview with ARD: “The government mandate lies with Kai Wegner, the current government has been voted out.”
Franziska Giffey admitted her electoral defeat, but initially avoided making clear statements about how to proceed or about personal consequences. “This result shows that Berliners are not satisfied with the way things are now,” she said on Sunday evening at the SPD election party in Berlin. “They want things to be different.”
The goal of the SPD was to become the strongest force in the state government – and that is still the case. This means that whoever has the strongest election result and “everyone who wants to govern in this country” must organize a stable political majority. “And that’s the question that’s relevant to us now,” she explained cryptically.
With agency material.
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