Berlin
Wegner fails in the first round in the mayoral election
Kai Wegner (CDU) is at the head of a black-red government alliance that was formed after the repeat election in February. photo
© Christophe Gateau/dpa
The formation of the new black-red Senate in Berlin is facing the last hurdle. But the CDU politician missed the required majority in the first ballot.
The CDU politician Kai Wegner failed in the election for the new Governing Mayor of Berlin in the first ballot. The 50-year-old missed the absolute majority required to be elected as the successor to Franziska Giffey in the Berlin House of Representatives on Thursday. Wegner got 71 yes votes, 86 deputies voted against him. In the second ballot, he also needs the absolute majority of the 159 parliamentarians, i.e. 80 yes votes.
The CDU has 52 MPs in the new House of Representatives, the SPD 34. Together, the coalition has 86 votes and the opposition from the Greens, Left and AfD has 73.
Further elections possible
If Wegner also misses the absolute majority in the second ballot, further ballots are possible. A majority of the votes cast would then be sufficient for an election.
Wegner had promoted the formation of a black-red coalition in recent weeks. He would be the first governing mayor from the ranks of the CDU after Eberhard Diepgen, who held this office until June 2001. The new coalition of the CDU and SPD is intended to replace the alliance of SPD, Left and Greens that had governed Berlin since 2016.
Unlike the SPD, there had been no public discussions about the black-red alliance among the Berlin Christian Democrats. At a CDU party conference, the coalition agreement passed without a dissenting vote, while the SPD’s approval in a member vote was significantly lower at 54.3 percent. The previous head of government Giffey is to get the post of economics senator in the new Senate.
The CDU emerged as the strongest party from the repeat elections in February, relegating the SPD and the Greens to their places. Giffey was then ready to give up her post for the Black-Red coalition, which she would have kept if Red-Green-Red had continued. The vote in February had become necessary because there had been numerous organizational breakdowns in the regular parliamentary elections in autumn 2021.