The Greens have elected Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour as new party leaders. At a digital party conference, Lang received 552 yes votes and thus around 76 percent approval. 137 voted no, with 38 abstentions. Lang ran unopposed. Nouripour received 621 votes (nearly 83 percent), beating two competitors who received a total of 77 votes, with 16 abstentions.
The 28-year-old Lang is considered a party leftist and entered the Bundestag for the first time. She wants to focus on social policy. She is the youngest party leader in the history of the Greens.
The 46-year-old Nouripour has been a member of the Bundestag for 18 years. He is considered an expert on foreign policy and a representative of the Realo wing. His goal is to advance the party in order to “be able to play a role again in the K-question,” he said in his application speech for the co-party chairmanship. Nouripour praised young party colleagues who did not let the hatred directed at them by political opponents get them down. “We are the indomitable ones!” Said Nouripour. With his candidacy, he wants to motivate people with a migration background to get involved politically, said Nouripour, who was born in Iran.
In her application speech, Lang called on the Greens to make the combination of climate protection and justice the basis of their policies. “We have to resolve the false contradiction between climate protection and social issues,” she said. “We now have to prove that it’s possible.” Governing in the coalition with SPD and FDP is not a punishment, but a great opportunity: “We are not only ready, we really want it.” The Greens should give people support and confidence: “We stand for change, even in difficult times.”
Emily Büning, who had previously been head of organization for the Greens, was elected the new federal manager. She takes over the position from Michael Kellner, who has moved to the Ministry of Climate Protection.
Several hundred delegates take part in the party congress online. A smaller circle of top politicians of the party meets in the Berlin Velodrom. Due to a corona infection, Lang can only connect digitally. The result has yet to be confirmed by postal ballot, which should happen by February 14th.