The SPD in the state parliament has not only shrunk after its historic low of 8.4 percent. But it is also facing a change in terms of personnel. This was already foreseeable before election Sunday; nine MPs, some of whom had served for a long time, no longer stood. Of the 17 mandates with which the group will be formed on Thursday, ten will go to previous MPs. There are also seven new women and men. The change also makes it imponderable what will happen after the election defeat: Will parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn stay at the top? Apparently many comrades need to speak first – so the decision could be postponed a little.
Of the previous elected officials who wanted to continue, two missed the chance to return. First, Diana Stachowitz from Munich. Upper Bavaria is the most represented district in the SPD parliamentary group with six MPs. But Stachowitz ended up in seventh place on the list. In Lower Bavaria, Christian Flisek missed re-entry as second on the SPD list. In the future, the social democracy between Passau and Landshut will only have a single representative: Ruth Müller, the general secretary of the Bavarian SPD. The Upper Palatinate also only has one social democratic seat: a new MP, Nicole Bäumler, a vocational school teacher from the Weiden constituency. Upper Franconia is represented by two new people in the parliamentary group: Holger Grießhammer, master painter from the Wunsiedel-Kulmbach district and former second mayor of Weißenstadt. As well as Sabine Gross, lawyer and one of the deputies of the mayor of Kronach.
Party leader Brunn wants to be elected to the top again. His election in 2021 – shortly after that of state chairman – was a close one, and from then on the group was divided into confidants and critics. But some critics have left, how will the new ones position themselves? Rough calculations in the SPD show that there could be a majority for Brunn. But there is also a lot of criticism from within the party: the campaign aimed at Brunn was wrong, his popularity in the Free State and the SPD is mediocre, and the people’s language has not been found. “The election was shitty, there’s a lot of frustration at the top,” says one person – and yet people are torn. On the one hand, the difficult circumstances, do you want to attract attention with power poker and arguments? On the other hand, no one has yet come forward to do it. Or want to. Over time, one of the new recruits may emerge as a strong leader.
It is conceivable that there will not be an election this week. “Winning time” is what we hear: the motley bunch barely knows each other. You don’t have to be “quick to speak” shortly after the election. The only minimal option is for Markus Söder to completely fall out with the Free Voters and call the SPD.