Berlin finally has its winner, after the election replayed this Sunday, February 12. But the German federal capital is still far from having a mayor. The CDU Christian Democrats came out on top, with 28.2% of the vote, more than ten points more than in 2021, during a first election canceled due to serious dysfunctions.
Priority to local issues
The social-democratic camp comes painfully in second place (18.4%) with only 105 votes more than the Greens. Symbolically, it’s a snub for Olaf Scholz’s SPD, which will have to leave the keys to the city – also state-region – after more than twenty years of governance. With 9.1% of the vote, the extreme right of the AfD is also progressing, unlike the liberals of the FDP (4.6%) who did not reach the eligibility threshold of 5% to be represented in the regional Parliament. .
The election was largely determined by local issues, particularly in terms of security and integration. When voting, part of the electorate may have kept in mind the scenes of violence and chaos on December 31, 2022, with firefighters and police targeted by fireworks in certain sensitive neighborhoods. Federal debates on inflation and Chancellor Scholz’s dithering on military aid to Ukraine were also significant.
A hard-to-get coalition
Big winner, the conservative head of the list Kai Wegner was delighted with a success « phénoménal » and a clear mandate: “Our job is to form a stable government. » But not sure that he will succeed in uniting a majority. Indeed, no party seems open to forming a coalition with the CDU. The SPD and the Greens have accepted exploratory contacts, for the principle. However, their preference would go to an alliance with Die Linke (radical left, 12.2%). All denounce the too divisive campaign of the Christian Democrats, like the head of the Green list, Bettina Jarasch, who criticizes speaking out “exacerbated” on integration. Not to mention their car-friendly policy.
Passed in opposition to the Bundestag since the departure of Angela Merkel, the CDU encounters the same difficulty at the federal level. The party certainly gains points, but its possibilities of alliance are reduced according to its positions. Bridges have been cut with the SPD since the Social Democrats took over. And ideological differences are widening with the Greens.