Breaking news
Status: 11.12.2021 3:17 p.m.
The SPD party congress has elected the previous Secretary General Klingbeil and the previous party leader Esken as the new dual leadership. Klingbeil replaces the previous co-chairman Walter-Borjans.
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 conference elected the two as the new party chairmen.
Esken, who has been party leader for two years, received 76.7 percent of the vote. The previous Secretary General Klingbeil received 86.3 percent. Esken’s previous co-chair, Norbert Walter-Borjans, did not run again. However, the decision still has to be confirmed by postal vote.
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.
Klingbeil urges unity
In his application speech for the SPD chairmanship, General Secretary Lars Klingbeil called on the party to unity in order to make further electoral success possible. Election victories are possible and necessary, says Klingbeil at the SPD party conference in Berlin. 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”.