The conservative Christian Democrats convincingly came out on top in Sunday’s (13 February) election to run Berlin, the German capital, with a stunning 10 percent increase in the vote, besting the incumbent SPD and Green parties.
The CDU topped the ballot, with 28.2 percent, ahead of the SPD on 18.4 percent — tied in a deadheat for second place with their current coalition partners the Greens, also on 18.4 percent.
The Left party, part of the current red/red/green coalition running Berlin, managed 12.2 percent, with the hard-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) getting nearly one-in-ten votes, on 9.1 percent.
The pro-business liberal party, the FPD, which is currently the third partner in the national government, crashed out of the Berlin house of represenatives entirely, failing to reach the five percent threshold by winning only 4.1 percent.
The result is a particular embarrassment for the SPD — having run Berlin for more than two decades, and the city being home to the national government led by the SPD chancellor Olaf Scholz, in coalition with the Greens and FDP.
However, despite coming out on top, and with 28 percent of the vote, the CDU might not get to run Berlin, their candidate Kai Wegner might not make it to the mayor’s office in city hall.
That’s because in live German TV coverage of the election results on Sunday night, neither the Greens nor the SPD expressed much initial interest in governing in coalition with the CDU.
Matt Tempest