By Zara Riffler
Now Franziska Giffey’s (44, SPD) claim to power is shrinking even further!
The state election committee will meet on Monday (February 27) to officially announce the final result of the Berlin repeat election.
︎ According to documents from the election committee, which are available to BILD am SONNTAG, the CDU received 428,228 votes (28.2 percent) according to the final election result. SPD: 279,017 (18.4 percent); Greens: 278,964 (18.4 percent); Left: 185,119 (12.2 percent); AfD: 137,871 (9.1 percent). The FDP missed the 5 percent hurdle: 70,416 votes (4.6 percent).
In plain language: The SPD is ONLY 53 votes ahead of the Greens!
In recent weeks, it has been difficult for Franziska Giffey to convey her claim to leadership to voters, party members and the Green coalition partner. Because: Despite the worst SPD result of all time, Giffey is sticking to a possible government under SPD leadership!
Now the SPD and the Greens are only separated by a touch of votes. Do the Greens still participate in Giffey’s power burr? Or is there now insight in the SPD that the CDU, as the election winner, has a claim to power?
▶︎ After the exploratory round on Friday, the CDU and SPD emphasized what they had in common. Negotiator Giffey spoke of “very constructive, very factual talks”. Election winner Kai Wegner (50, CDU) explained that there were “many intersections and many similarities”.
With Giffey’s shrinking power, a coalition between the CDU and SPD could become more likely.
As BZ: heard from SPD circles, the state party is divided: Some want a red-green-red coalition. The Greens would allegedly demand one more senator for Giffey’s will to power. Other Social Democrats want to form a coalition with the CDU, and a few even want to join the opposition.
So far, no party has committed itself to starting coalition negotiations. The third exploratory meeting between SPD, Greens and Left will take place next Monday. Next Tuesday, the CDU and the Greens will come together for the third round.
It remains to be seen whether the final election result really remains “final”. Parties in the electoral committee could request further vote recounts on Monday.