The Berlin SPD tends towards a coalition with the CDU. Now the priority of the winner of the election is leaking out: all the signs are black and red. CDU top candidate Kai Wegner could become governing mayor. Meanwhile, the Greens are warning of a "regression coalition".
After the repeat election in Berlin, there are signs of a change of power from red-green-red to black-red. According to party circles, the winner of the election, the CDU, is aiming for a government alliance with the SPD. The German Press Agency learned that CDU top candidate Kai Wegner wanted to propose to the state executive that coalition negotiations be started with the Social Democrats. A party spokesman said he would not comment on the process. The CDU board meets on Thursday.
Since the afternoon, the SPD state executive has been discussing who the Social Democrats should start coalition negotiations with. On Tuesday it became known that the SPD state leadership around the governing mayor Franziska Giffey tends to black and red - in that case, however, Giffey would lose her office in the town hall, which she has only held since December 2021. The capital has been governed by the SPD, the Greens and the Left since 2016. After the election in September 2021, which was later declared invalid, the three parties renewed their alliance. In addition to black-red or black-green, this previous three-party coalition would also have a majority in the new parliament.
Should black and red work, CDU chairman Wegner would become the new governing mayor. The CDU last provided a head of government in Berlin with Eberhard Diepgen, who was in office from 1984 to 1989 and from 1991 to 2001. It is conceivable that the 44-year-old ex-Federal Minister for Family Affairs Giffey will take on a Senate post in a black-red coalition. There is speculation about a kind of "super ministry" with particular powers. The Greens' top candidate Bettina Jarasch criticized a possible two-party alliance between the SPD and the CDU. "The fact that the SPD and the CDU are now obviously opting for each other shows that what we always warned about during the election campaign is coming: a coalition going backwards," she explained.
The CDU won the repeat election on February 12 with 28.2 percent. SPD and Greens both got 18.4 percent. With 53 votes, the Social Democrats only have a wafer-thin lead over the Greens. They did worse than ever in a House of Representatives election. The left came to 12.2 percent, the AfD to 9.1. The FDP flew with 4.6 percent from the parliament, which now has five instead of six parliamentary groups.
Since February 17, the parties have been exploring in exploratory talks whether there is a common basis for starting coalition negotiations and for forming a government. The CDU spoke three times each with the SPD and the Greens. SPD, Greens and Left also met three times.
The Berlin Constitutional Court declared the September 26, 2021 election invalid due to "serious systemic deficiencies" and numerous electoral errors. The court ordered a full retake. Nothing changes in the length of the five-year legislative period. So it ends in 2026.
