From Hildburg Bruns
He beams, he waves, the supporters cheer. His blonde First Lady Kathleen (41) proudly smiles next to him. Kai Wegner (50) is the winner of the election, lands a 28 percent grenade. A CDU boom of the extra class!
“Berlin has chosen change,” said Spandau just 14 minutes after the polling stations closed. And: “This is a clear government order.” No question with an XXL lead of around ten percentage points over the competition.
Berlin’s governor Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) is close to tears: “The result shows that Berliners are not satisfied with the way things are now.”
Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) is close to tears at first, says: “A bitter evening.” Despite the colors of her outfit, she is not yet on the black and red course Photo: DPA
She has held the executive chair in the Red City Hall for a good year, preparing for a full five years when she takes office. Until the 2021 breakdown election was declared invalid.
For the first time in 21 years, Berlin’s Social Democrats are no longer ahead in this repetition. The historically worst result ever.
Again and again on the evening of the election, the Greens pass the SPD to second place. A nail-biter with at times only 17 votes difference, which increases to 392 for Jarasch by 11 p.m. With 18.4 percent, the Greens are a hair’s breadth ahead of the SPD (also 18.4).
Kai the First – but maybe a king without a country? HE has the most votes, but HE does not (yet) have a majority.
For Wegner it is crystal clear: “I will speak to both the SPD and the Greens with an open mind.” He wants a stable government with partners who also treat each other to success. “A government that really gets down to business,” he says.
But what do the two courted top women want? Do you give him the cold shoulder?
Bettina Jarasch (54, Green) celebrates. She was able to keep her party’s election result Photo: Reuters
► The (still) governing Giffey was half-optimistic in the morning (“it’ll be fine”), said after the polling stations closed: “A bitter evening!”
But she does not show great humility: “The strongest election result is one. But anyone who wants to govern in the Red Town Hall must get a majority.” That doesn’t sound like a great desire for a coalition with the CDU, but rather again cautiously like red-green-red for the second time.
Giffey: “During the election campaign, we wanted the Red Town Hall to remain red. We still want that.” But at the same time she restricts: “We will also have to do things differently.”
Although her party has been punished by Berliners for the politics of the past 14 months, the SPD leader is still planning power: “I don’t think much of it, we’re recovering in the opposition now.”
► Green front woman Bettina Jarasch (54) can be satisfied with the outcome of the election. Their more than 19 percent exceed the result of 2021 (18.9 percent). Laughing, she repeats her mantra from the election campaign: “We’ll first talk to the previous coalition partners and see if we can get a coalition together.”
It would be an alliance of the election losers – maybe this time with a green government. But she could also head for black and green – a coalition that Wegner had often longed for in internal talks in recent weeks.
► The left is pushing for a continuation with the SPD and the Greens – they don’t have any other power option either, otherwise they would lose their influential senators and state secretaries.
What’s next? The party committees are meeting today. Election winner Kai Wegner will invite to exploratory talks towards the end of the week – first the SPD, then the Greens. After several rounds of screening, a decision will then be made on whether to formally start coalition talks.
On March 16, in just under five weeks, the new parliament is to meet for the first time.