CDU wins elections in Berlin – SPD after historic defeat just before Greens fired rocket from Gaza into Israel – settlers kill 27-year-olds

In the subsequent elections in Berlin, the Christian Democrats, with their party leader Kai Wegner, became by far the strongest party. Prime Minister Franziska Giffey’s SPD went down, but managed to defend second place against the Greens after counting all the votes. The AfD grew and is again represented in the House of Representatives, the FDP was eliminated.

The Berlin CDU performed its strongest performance in more than 20 years on Sunday, demanding the right to form a government under its leadership. A bipartisan alliance with the SPD or the Greens would be possible. But the SPD, the Greens and the Left were also able to continue their previous coalition – still with Giffey at the helm, whose SPD fell just short of the strongest of the three parties.

After counting all the votes, the CDU won about ten percentage points in the re-elections and came to 28.2 percent (2021: 18.0 percent). The SPD is 18.4 percent (21.4), the Greens also (18.9). But the SPD has a lead of just 105 votes. The left fell to 12.2 percent (14.1). The AfD, on the other hand, received 9.1 percent of the vote (8.0). The FDP lost heavily, failing by 4.6 percent in the five percent hurdle (7.1).

The state detective had no information on Monday evening about the distribution of the mandates. According to forecasts by ARD and ZDF late in the evening, the CDU will have 48 to 50 seats. The Greens received 31 to 33 and the SPD 31 to 32 mandates. The left has 21 to 22 seats, the AfD 16.

CDU top candidate Wegner spoke of a “phenomenal” success and said: “It is our job to form a stable government.” Berlin opted for a change. He announced that he would invite the SPD and Greens to explore. The federal chairman of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, wrote on Twitter: “The clear government mandate for the CDU is the first step towards our goal of making the federal capital work better.”

Giffey spoke of a difficult night for her SPD – “there’s nothing to explain”. But it is not self-evident that the CDU is now head of government. “Even Mr. Wegner will have to organize political majorities.”

SPD federal chair Saskia Esken sees “no power option” for their top candidates, despite the CDU’s high profits. “Kai Wegner clearly ran a demarcation and division campaign,” she said on the ARD talk show “Anne Will” on Sunday night. Therefore, she sees few chances for him to form a government.

Bettina Jarasch, top candidate of the Greens, spoke out in favor of continuing the coalition with the SPD and the left. “The current government coalition has a clear and stable majority,” she said on ARD.

A new edition of red-green-red would be a challenge for Wegner, who has since led the CDU forward again. The 50-year-old was born in Berlin, has three children and lives in the Spandau district. Outside the city, the Hertha BSC fan is little known.

The 44-year-old SPD state leader, who grew up east of Berlin, was mayor in the Neukölln district and rose to become federal minister for family affairs in 2018. Giffey resigned from the cabinet in May 2021 over a plagiarism scandal surrounding her thesis.

The 54-year-old senator for the environment, Jarasch, now has the opportunity to become the first Greens leader in Berlin and replace Giffey. Born in Augsburg, she faces a traffic reversal away from combustion cars and an ambitious fight against global warming – which narrows the political intersection with the FDP and CDU.

The success of the Berlin CDU should give the federal party and its chairman Merz a boost, because this year there are three state elections in Bremen, Hesse and Bavaria. The result is a damper for the SPD in the federal government, as Giffey risks losing her position as head of government in Berlin. The federal FDP has to deal with being thrown out of a state parliament again after a series of sensitive election defeats.

Due to serious election disruptions, the state constitutional court had voided the September 2021 state parliament election and the district election — and ordered a repeat. At the time, long lines at polling stations and missing, switched, or copied ballots made headlines nationwide. Everything went smoothly on this election Sunday, as Berlin State Investigator Stephan Bröchler said: “I am very happy that everything went well this time.”

About 2.4 million people had the right to vote in the House of Representatives. According to the state detective, the turnout was 63.1 percent. In 2021 that was 75.4 percent, but the Bundestag was also elected that year. (sda/dpa)