Kai Wegner also failed in the second round in his attempt to become the new Governing Mayor of Berlin. In the secret ballot, the Christian Democrat once again failed to achieve the required absolute majority of 80 votes, even though the coalition of CDU and SPD together has 86 MPs. After only 71 parliamentarians voted for Wegner in the first ballot, there were at least 79 in the second ballot – with just as many votes against and one abstention.
Although it is not known who voted for or against Wegner, it is likely that the Christian Democrats voted unanimously for their leader. In the coalition, many no votes are likely to have come from the SPD.
There had been great resistance to the alliance with the CDU in the past few weeks. In a member vote, the supporters of the coalition only narrowly prevailed with 54.3 percent. For example, the Christian Democrats are accused of their behavior after the New Year’s Eve riots – at the time they asked for the first names of the alleged perpetrators. There were significantly fewer public discussions at the CDU: There, the delegates voted unanimously for the coalition agreement.
The Berlin CDU politician Falko Lieke was surprised by the dimensions after the failed elections. “I already expected that there could be a small setback,” said Lieke, who is to become State Secretary. “But that has a special quality that doesn’t have to be.”
After the failed first two rounds, Green Group leader Werner Graf spoke of a “disastrous start” for the planned black-red government. It shows the inner turmoil of the SPD parliamentary group, said Graf on Thursday. “It’s bad for Berlin because there won’t be a stable majority in the next three and a half years – no matter how the third ballot turns out.”
session suspended for the time being
Before such a third ballot, the session in the House of Representatives was interrupted. It’s not supposed to start until 3:30 p.m. In the next round of elections, the candidate who receives more votes than an opposing candidate or more yes votes than no votes would prevail. Abstentions are irrelevant. In the previous rounds, Wegner had no opponent. If the 50-year-old were elected, he would be the first CDU politician in more than 20 years to become Governing Mayor. Before that, Eberhard Diepgen was the last Christian Democrat to head the capital until 2001.
After there were numerous organizational glitches in the regular parliamentary elections in autumn 2021, the CDU gained significantly in the repeat election in February and became the strongest party with 28.2 percent. The SPD came in second place, just ahead of the Greens: Both received 18.4 percent of the votes, but 53 people voted more for the Social Democrats than for the Greens.
The previous Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) had previously resigned from her post. She is to become Senator for Economics in the new Senate. After the election, Giffey had agreed to give up her office for the coalition with the CDU, which she would probably have retained if the previous red-green-red alliance had continued – this coalition would still have had a majority.