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Berlin: Conservatives projected to win repeated vote
2 hours ago2 hours ago
Voters returned to polling booths across the German capital after a botched 2021 election was declared invalid. More voters picked the center-right CDU than any other party, but its candidate may not get to be mayor.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) suffered a setback Sunday in a rerun of the Berlin state election, an exit poll by public broadcasters ARD/ZDF showed.
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) picked up the largest share of the vote at 28.2%, leaving the SPD in a tie for second place with the environment-friendly Greens, each with 18.4%.
If confirmed, the result will be the worst for the SPD in the post-war era in Berlin. In 2021, the center-left party received 21.4% of the vote.
The SPD is currently in a coalition with the Greens and the Left Party in the German capital, led by 44-year-old Mayor Franziska Giffey — the city’s first elected female mayor.
For the CDU, the result is the best in 20 years, potentially giving them 48 seats in the 147-seat Berlin state parliament, with the SPD and the Greens each taking 31.
Unclear who will run Berlin now
Despite the apparent win, there is no guarantee that the CDU will be part of the city government or that its candidate Kai Wegner will get to be mayor.
The current coalition still has a majority in Berlin’s House of Representatives.
If the SPD comes in ahead of the Greens, Giffey could retain the mayor position.
While admitting Berliners’ frustration with her administration, Giffey said her goal was to remain in government.
“If we have a chance to lead a government alliance under SPD leadership, we will also try to organize a stable political majority for it,” she told local media.
If the Greens win second place, the party’s top candidate Bettina Jarasch could move into the position of mayor.
Green Party co-leader Omid Nouripour held out hopes for a continued coalition between his party, the SPD and the Left Party.
“We prefer that the current coalition continues — preferably with the Greens at the front,” he told ARD. “But of course, the Greens in Berlin will speak with all the democratic parties.”
CDU candidate for Berlin mayor Kai Wegner spoke of his party having a “clear government mandate,” due to winning the largest share of the vote.
Wegner said he will now begin exploratory talks with other parties.
Berlin held rerun of its botched local elections: DW’s Benjamin Alvarez-Gruber reports
02:28
2021 election widely criticized
Sunday’s vote was ordered after the2021 election was marred by severe glitches at many polling stations and hours-long lines as some polling places ran out of ballot papers or received ones for the wrong district.
The Constitutional Court of Berlin, one of three German cities that is also a state in its own right, declared the vote invalid in November.
It said a partial rerun would not be enough “in view of the large number and severity of the election errors.”
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey votes in Sunday’s election rerun on February 12, 2023Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey votes in Sunday’s election rerun on February 12, 2023
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey has only been in the role for a yearImage: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture alliance
Berliners have long been frustrated by the city’s notoriously dysfunctional administration, which has defied cliches of German efficiency for years and made it the laughing stock of the rest of the country.
High rents, dilapidated school buildings and outdated public transport were also among Berliners’ top election complaints.
The results, if confirmed, also reflect the SPD’s struggles nationally, as Scholz’s government — in power for just over a year — wrestles with rampant inflation and the fallout of the war in Ukraine.
Sunday’s turnout was lower than in 2021, with about 63.5% to 65% of voters participating by 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT).
In 2021, it was 75.4%, although it is difficult to compare these numbers as a federal election was held at the same time, and these usually attract more voters.
mm/dj (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
