In the election for the Berlin House of Representatives, the SPD and the Greens fought a tight race for leadership in the German capital. For the first time in the history of her party, the office of the governing mayor of Berlin seemed within reach for the Green top candidate Bettina Jarasch. Then, in the course of the evening, the SPD with top woman Franziska Giffey pushed forward in projections. As before, both parties could continue to form a coalition with one another and with the left.
The trend for the SPD solidified later on Sunday evening. According to an extrapolation from the Wahlen research group, it is just in first place at 21.5 percent. The Greens with top candidate Bettina Jarasch achieve 18.8 percent. The CDU retracts 17.9 percent and the left 14.1 percent. The AfD achieved 8.2 percent in the extrapolation, the FDP 7.0 percent.
For the SPD, the result of the extrapolation is a slight gain compared to 2016, the Greens increased significantly. The left has to accept slight losses. The three parties together would have a solid majority in favor of a continuation of Red-Red-Green. “We have a head-to-head race between the SPD and the Greens, that means there is a clear vote for the SPD and the Greens, we have to deal with that,” said Giffey the broadcaster Phoenix. In the event of an election victory, they will also speak to all other parties, but the will of the electorate is clear.
Green top candidate Jarasch told the same broadcaster that she wanted to stick to a “progressive government alliance” with the SPD and the left. “We started a lot of things in this red-red-green coalition that people think are good,” said Jarasch. “That’s why I said from the start that I would like to continue this progressive coalition, but under green leadership.” Other tripartite alliances were also conceivable.
CDU top candidate Kai Wegner said in various interviews that his party had started to end red-red-green, and the numbers could perhaps give that too. But the CDU again achieved one of the worst results of the post-war period. In the projections, the FDP came to just under seven percent, about as much as in 2016. FDP top candidate Sebastian Czaja confirmed his willingness to speak to all parties except for the left and AfD. According to projections, the AfD lost significantly and ended up at around eight percent. Top candidate Kristin Brinker emphasized that many citizens had shown interest in AfD issues during the election campaign.
Sunday was a super election day in the capital. In addition to the House of Representatives, Berliners could also elect the new Bundestag and twelve new district parliaments. The top topics in the election campaign were rents and housing, transport, climate protection, education and Corona. A referendum was also about whether large housing groups should be expropriated. After counting more than half of the votes, a majority emerged in favor. However, the vote is not legally binding for politicians. Nevertheless, the new Senate and the newly elected House of Representatives will have to deal with this.
Around 2.45 million people were eligible to vote in Berlin. But not everything went smoothly when it came to voting. Some ballot papers were missing. The Berlin marathon caused delays. Sometimes long queues formed, waiting times were up to two hours. Some polling stations stayed open longer. Some were still voting while the election forecasts were already running on television. The Federal Returning Officer requested a “detailed report” on the breakdowns. In 2016, the SPD won the election to the House of Representatives with 21.6 percent of the second vote – its worst result in Berlin since 1946. The CDU then achieved 17.6 percent. The left came to 15.6 percent five years ago, the Greens to 15.2 percent. The AfD moved into the House of Representatives for the first time with 14.2 percent, the FDP managed 6.7 percent. The Berlin state parliament consists of at least 130 members, currently there are 160 due to overhang and compensatory mandates.