Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) won the bonus electoral victory On top of his slim victory in a nationwide election in Berlin, provisional results showed Monday.
In a closely contested race, the SPD candidate for mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffie, won 21.4% of the vote, beating the Green Party’s rival candidates, Bettina Jarsch, at 18.9% and the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) alternative. , Kai Wegner, at 18.1%.
Sunday’s local elections coincide with the national vote.
Giffey wants coalition talks
Giffie, set to become Berlin’s first female mayor, told local public broadcaster RBB that she wanted to talk to both the Greens and the CDU about forming a possible coalition, adding that her priority was “to make the SPD’s program as much as possible.” Had to get coalition talks as possible.”
The German capital is currently governed by a coalition between the SPD, the Greens and the leftist Die Linke.
Berlin’s governing mayor, Michael Müller of the SPD, had announced that he would not run for the state parliament, leaving the race open to those running the city.
With either Giffie or Jarash, Berlin is set to become the third German state to have a female leader, along with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Rhineland-Palatinate – both of which are SPD premiers.
For a period as a preliminary result, the Greens’ Jarash showed a slight edge, only to turn the numbers around.
Berlin has had no female governing mayor since post-war Germany’s political system was fully resumed in the 1949 national elections.
What about Mecklenburg-West Pomerania?
Berlin was not the only state to elect its local legislature on Sunday. The northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also had a seat to grab, where Manuela Schweisig (SPD) won a clear victory.
Manuela Schwesig (Twitter / @ManuelaSchwesig)
According to the website of the State Election Administration, after counting the results of all constituencies, the SPD won 39.6% of the vote.
“This evening belongs to the ladies. The women who ensured us a hundred years ago that we had the right to vote and that we could stand for elections. who are still fighting today to make sure we are democratically involved,” Schweisig said on Twitter.
Schweisig has already been the head of state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 2017 and is the first woman to hold office in the northern state.
She had a brief stint as interim co-president of the party in 2019 before stepping down after a breast cancer Diagnosis.
SPD reins in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Since 1998, the state premiership of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania has been organized by the SPD.
With a direct mandate, the SPD now has several options to form the government in the northern state.
Currently, the current coalition partner of the SPD is the CDU. But the Conservative Party got the worst result ever in the state with 13.3%.
The CDU is also behind the far-right Alternative to Germany (AFD), which received 16.7% of the vote.
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