The CDU politician Wegner failed in the election for the new governing mayor of Berlin in the first ballot. The 50-year-old missed the required absolute majority in the vote in the House of Representatives.
It is a setback for the Berlin CDU and its chairman Kai Wegner: The 50-year-old missed the required majority for the election of the governing mayor in the first ballot.
Wegner got 71 yes votes, 86 deputies voted against him – with one abstention and one invalid vote. 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.
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.
Two and a half months after the repeat elections to the Berlin House of Representatives, Wegner wants to replace the SPD politician Franziska Giffey after only a year and a half in office and in future lead a black-red coalition.
The election was not considered completely safe in advance. It was considered possible that some social democrats, angry at the black-red alliance, could vote no or abstain. Several district associations, the SPD youth organization Jusos and trade unions had mobilized against the coalition with the CDU.
The Christian Democrats voted unanimously for the alliance at a party conference on Monday. The Social Democrats had polled their members, of whom only a narrow majority of 54.3 percent voted in favour.
The CDU clearly won the February 12 election with 28.2 percent. The SPD ended up in second place with 18.4 percent – just 53 votes ahead of the Greens. The Christian Democrats then sounded out with both parties and then decided on coalition negotiations with the SPD. So far, a coalition of SPD, Greens and Left Party has ruled in the capital.