Status: 11.12.2021 3:44 p.m.
The SPD party congress has re-elected the party leadership: Saskia Esken and the previous Secretary General Lars Klingbeil are to form the dual leadership in the future. Klingbeil received 86.3 percent of the vote, Esken 76.7 percent.
Saskia Esken and the previous Secretary General Lars Klingbeil are to become the new leadership duo of the SPD. The delegates of the largely digital federal party convention elected the two as party chairmen.
Klingbeil and Esken accepted the election and thanked them for their support. “I’m looking forward to being chairman of the SPD together with Saskia,” said Klingbeil. However, the decision still has to be confirmed by postal vote.
Esken, who has been party leader for two years, received 76.7 percent of the vote, Klingbeil received 86.3 percent. Esken’s previous co-chair, Norbert Walter-Borjans, did not run again. When she was first elected head of the SPD, Esken received 75.9 percent, while Walter-Borjans received 89.2 percent.
Boldly should be Secretary General
In the afternoon, the rest of the party leadership is also to be re-elected. Former Juso boss Kevin Kühnert will succeed Klingbeil as general secretary. The head of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia, Thomas Kutschaty, is to follow his post as party vice-president. The support of the party congress is considered certain for both personalities.
Since almost all those entitled to vote were only connected digitally at the party congress, all of the person elections still have to be confirmed in writing. The delegates must send back the relevant postal voting documents by the coming weekend. The new party executive committee is scheduled to meet for the first time on December 20.
Klingbeil urges unity
In his application speech for the SPD chairmanship, Klingbeil had called on the party to unity in order to make further electoral success possible. Election victories are possible and necessary, says Klingbeil. To do this, however, it is important that the party also stands together when it provides the chancellor. “In the end we are an SPD.” He adds: “We are on the cusp of a social democratic decade.”
Esken had called on her party to work on the continuation of this success after her “great election victory”. She wants to make her contribution, said Esken in her application speech for a new term of office. “I want to continue leading the SPD to new strength and pride,” she announced. “The greatest weeks that one can imagine as an SPD party leader are behind us,” said Esken, referring to the return of the Social Democrats to the top of the government. This was made possible by the fact that the SPD was “united as it has not been for many years”.