Reactions to the Berlin election
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Wegner sees “clear government mandate” – Giffey: Senate under SPD leadership possible
According to projections, the CDU is clearly ahead in the repeat election in Berlin. Lead candidate Kai Wegner is correspondingly self-confident – and calls for a change of government. The SPD does not want to write off the leadership of the Senate just yet.
The Berliners CDU claims to lead the next Senate after performing strongly in the re-election in Berlin. top candidate Kai Wegner said in the evening on ARD that his party had received the “clear government mandate”.
Now he wants to form a successful “Berlin coalition” in which the partner can also be successful. “We will have talks about this in the next few days,” said Wegner.
The Berlin Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) was disappointed with the performance of her party. She told party members that the result shows that Berliners are not satisfied. However, she still has the goal of becoming the strongest force in a new state government. Anyone who wants to govern must be able to “organize a stable political majority,” said Giffey. She pointed out that it was still unclear who would come second – SPD or Greens.
The top candidate greens, Bettina Jarash, said on ARD that she would hold talks with all democratic parties if invited. She congratulated the CDU on her result. But she also emphasized that she has a clear preference. She wants to continue the coalition with the SPD and the left, led by the Greens. But we’ll have to wait and see how the evening unfolds. The current governing coalition still has a majority.
Also left-Top candidate Klaus Lederer expressed his party’s fundamental willingness to continue participating in government. The decisive question is whether there will be “progressive majorities” after the election, said Lederer. “It will not fail on the left,” he added. He was “not dissatisfied” with the result of his party, Lederer said. “The starting conditions couldn’t have been worse.” Among other things, he referred to “frustration” about the need to repeat the selection due to breakdowns.
The AfD-top candidate, Kristin Bricker, was satisfied with the result of her party. “We were able to mobilize our voters. We have also consolidated in the capital,” said Brinker on Sunday on ARD. “There was an election victory for the Conservatives today and that’s the important thing.”
FDP-Top candidate Sebastian Czaja initially expressed reservations. “We’ll wait and see how the counting status develops,” said Czaja on ARD. He acknowledged a lack of voter mobilization. “The turnout overall was very low,” said Czaja.
According to the forecasts, turnout was between 63.5 and 65.0 percent. In 2021 it was 75.4 percent, but the Bundestag was also elected that year.
Broadcast: rbb24 evening show, February 12, 2023, 7:30 p.m