Bavaria: SPD leader von Brunn is to become the top candidate in the state parliament in 2023

There is still more than a year to go before the state elections.

Bavaria: SPD leader von Brunn is to become the top candidate in the state parliament in 2023

There is still more than a year to go before the state elections. Now Prime Minister Söder's first challenger is positioning himself. The SPD personnel is not a surprise.

Munich (dpa / lby) - The Bavarian SPD party and parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn is to lead his party as the top candidate in the state elections in autumn 2023. The Bavarian SPD announced on Saturday after a board meeting in Munich that the state board had unanimously nominated him. Formally, this only has to be approved by a party conference that is scheduled to take place in October.

"I would like to thank the state board for the overwhelming trust and my co-chair Ronja Endres for the unlimited support," said von Brunn. "I will do everything to lead us into the upcoming state elections with strength and passion." Endres praised: "Florian von Brunn is a strong candidate with a lot of experience in state parliament politics." He will give everything for the SPD "and lead us successfully into the state election campaign," she said.

Von Brunn's application comes as no surprise given his two top offices: in April 2021 he took over the SPD state presidency, together with Ronja Endres. At a party conference, the duo prevailed against the incumbent General Secretary Uli Grötsch. In May 2021, von Brunn also grabbed the parliamentary group chair - and won a fight vote against the then incumbent Horst Arnold, albeit narrowly, by 12 votes to 10.

In previous years, von Brunn had made a name for himself as an environmental expert for his parliamentary group. Because of his bold demeanor, however, he was never undisputed within the party and faction.

"I want social politics for the people of Bavaria," he said now. "They urgently need further relief in view of the high energy prices, significantly more affordable housing, as well as good health care in town and country." He wants to work together in a team for this, "but also to ensure that the Free State of Bavaria becomes a role model for the energy transition and climate protection - in the interests of our children". It is important to preserve Bavaria and at the same time to make it modern and fit for the future, to secure good jobs here and to ensure proper payment, emphasized the SPD politician.

However, von Brunn and his party still have a lot of room for improvement in Bavaria: In the most recent state election polls, the Social Democrats did not get past their historically poor result of 9.7 percent in the 2018 state election. The CSU under Prime Minister Markus Söder is still the undisputed leader, most recently with poll numbers at or just under the 40 percent mark. Behind them are the Greens in second place, most recently with around 20 percent.

In the last state elections, the then state chairman Natascha Kohnen (2018), the long-standing mayor of Munich Christian Ude (2013) and before that the former parliamentary group leader Franz Maget (2008) ran as top candidates for the SPD. With Ude, the SPD managed to break through the 20 percent mark for the only time since 1998. In the 2018 election, the Social Democrats fell to their all-time low of just 9.7 percent.