2024-10-08 10:05:12
Kevin Kühnert has resigned and Matthias Miersch will be his successor as general secretary of the SPD. He will have to get used to his new position quickly because there is a lot to do there, especially in an election year.
What does a general secretary do?
The Secretary General has a dual role. Internally he is responsible for organizing a party. In the SPD, for example, he is head of the Willy Brandt House, the party headquarters. According to the organizational statute of the SPD, which establishes who is responsible for what within the Social Democrats, the election campaign is also the responsibility of the general secretary: both preparation and implementation are his responsibility. Externally, however, the general secretary is often the one who increases the party’s visibility with attacks, especially when party leaders are more pro-state.
What position do you hold in the SPD?
The general secretary is one of the party’s best-known politicians. By virtue of his position he is part of the party’s executive council. It is legitimized by election at a party congress. For this reason Miersch will have to wait a while: initially he will be the temporary director of the office.
What task is particularly urgent right now?
SPD leader Klingbeil leaves no doubt that the party wants to conduct a professional election campaign even after Kühnert’s retirement and win the next federal elections. He made it clear that he holds himself responsible for this. But according to the statute, the general secretary is responsible. In this role Matthias Miersch will also receive a lot of attention and will have to be able to work very soon. Especially since the Union is currently willing to underline that it will be able to campaign immediately after the decision in favor of the chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz.
Since when has this branch existed in the SPD?
The Social Democrats created the post in 1999. The list of general secretaries shows that from this position it is possible to make a career in the SPD. The first general secretary was Franz Müntefering, who later became party leader and vice-chancellor. Olaf Scholz was also general secretary. He took office in 2002 but resigned after two years. Before Kühnert, the current SPD leader Lars Klingbeil was general secretary. He led the election campaign that brought Olaf Scholz to the Chancellery.
Do all parties have a general secretary?
Of the parties represented in the Bundestag, apart from the SPD, only the CDU, CSU, FDP and BSW have a general secretary. The Greens have a political director who has similar duties to those of the general secretary of other parties. The AfD and the Left Party do not have a general secretary. They then send other politicians to the so-called “Berlin Round” of the general secretaries, which discusses the election results on the ARD after the federal and state elections.
#general #secretary