RThe state board of the Berlin SPD spoke for three hours on Monday evening about the party’s miserable performance in the election on Sunday. According to participants, there were no demands for the resignation of the governing mayor and top candidate Franziska Giffey. Giffey herself questioned her previously self-confident claim to continue to govern in the Red City Hall. “I’m not glued to my chair,” she is quoted as saying by participants. Giffey also said publicly after the meeting that the state executive had backed her, but that if the party disagreed, she would not remain in office.
According to the participants, the SPD state chairwoman also made it clear at the meeting that she was still against the expropriation of large real estate groups, which the Berlin Left Party in particular is vehemently demanding, and the Greens, to a lesser extent. “I will not change my position on this,” Giffey is quoted as saying. She also made it clear that there must be changes in the areas of housing construction and transport, but above all in internal security. With this topic, which had become particularly explosive due to the New Year’s Eve riots, the CDU was able to win votes in particular.
At the meeting, Giffey pleaded for equal talks with the election winner, the CDU, as well as with the previous coalition partners, the Greens and the Left. In the debate, some participants spoke out against a coalition with the CDU, which would be led by their top candidate Kai Wegner; others argued that a continuation of the red-green-red coalition with Giffey at the helm would be difficult to sell as a fresh start.
The majority agreed with Giffey’s stance. She and country co-chair Raed Saleh have been tasked with conducting exploratory talks with the parties. The state board gave both of them to understand that they had a leap of faith, but that their negotiations had to be closely coordinated with the board.
Uncounted ballots
Giffey could remain in office in a coalition with the Greens and the Left. Although the SPD and Greens are tied at 18.4 percent behind the CDU, which achieved 28.2 percent, the Social Democrats have a lead of 105 votes over the Greens. However, there was a glitch that will change the official final result again. As state returning officer Stephan Bröchler told the FAZ, 466 ballot letters from the postal vote did not reach the district elections office in Lichtenberg on time on Sunday, and the ballot papers in them were not counted.
They will now be recounted and then, according to Bröchler, included in the final result, which will be presented on February 27th. “No voice is lost,” said Bröchler. He regretted that the election, which had gone well, was overshadowed by the incident. “It upsets me a lot,” he said. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on the breakdown. It is possible that the Greens are still ahead of the SPD as a result of the breakdown, but rather unlikely, especially since Lichtenberg is not considered a Green stronghold.
Berlin’s CDU leader Wegner did not want to show any preference for a possible coalition on Tuesday. Invitations to exploratory talks were issued to the SPD and the Greens at the same time, “so that no preferences are discernible,” he told the RTL/ntv broadcasters. It’s about bringing the city back together. Wegner said there were “many overlaps with the content of the SPD”. But one has to find out whether the SPD, as a junior partner, is really willing to work together in a spirit of trust.
