Berlin election results increase pressure on German government
Published: Monday, Feb 12th 2024, 12:40
Back to Live Feed
Following the losses of the SPD and FDP in the partial rerun of the 2021 federal election in Berlin, pressure is growing on Chancellor Olaf Scholz's "traffic light" coalition.
Berlin's SPD state leader Franziska Giffey called for the Social Democrats to raise their profile in government on Monday. At the same time, FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki also called for a course correction following his party's "bitter result". CDU state leader Kai Wegner saw the result as a stop signal for the governing coalition (SPD, FDP, Greens).
The election on September 26, 2021, which took place at the same time as the Berlin Marathon, was chaotic in parts. In many places, ballot papers were missing or the wrong ones were on display. There were long queues. In many polling stations, voting continued long after 6 p.m., the actual closing time - when the first predictions were already being made.
The election was therefore repeated on Sunday in around a fifth of Berlin's constituencies. Around 550,000 people in the capital were allowed to vote again - only around one percent of those eligible to vote in Germany.
Losses for SPD and FDP where votes were actually cast
The overall result for 2021 thus changed only minimally: the FDP (11.4%) and the Greens (14.7%) each lost 0.1 percentage points. The opposition Christian Democrats (19.0%) and the right-wing populist AfD (10.4%) each gained 0.1 percentage points. For the SPD (25.7%) and the Left Party (4.9%), the 2021 federal result did not change.
The shifts in Berlin also remained manageable: according to the new overall result - i.e. constituencies with repeated voting together with the results that did not have to be repeated - the SPD remained the strongest party with 22.2% (-1.2 percentage points), just ahead of the Greens with 22.0% (-0.3). The CDU improved to 17.2% (+1.3). The AfD climbed to 9.4% (+1.0), while the FDP fell to 8.1% (-0.9). At 11.5%, the Left Party practically maintained its 2021 election result (+0.1).
However, the trend was clearer in the districts where voting actually took place: The SPD and FDP lost considerably there, while the CDU and AfD made significant gains. And although the total number of voters was small, the parties see this as a sign of things to come.
"Addressing dissatisfaction among the population more strongly"
FDP deputy leader Kubicki told the German Press Agency: "It is a bitter result, but in view of the current poll figures, it comes as no surprise. It must be clear to the FDP that only a bolder and more progressive economic, energy and migration policy will lead to success." He warned: "We would do well to initiate this change of course in the coalition with the upcoming budget discussions at the latest."
SPD state leader Giffey told dpa that the losses of the "traffic light" parties must be taken very seriously. Until now, the SPD had been a strong moderator in the "traffic light", but now it had to stand up more strongly for its position again. "This means that the dissatisfaction that exists among the population must be addressed more strongly again," said Giffey. The strong performance of the AfD and the low voter turnout are warning signs.
CDU state leader Wegner - who has led a coalition with the SPD as governing mayor of Berlin since 2022 - was even more emphatic about the partial election: "People want something to change," Wegner told dpa. "They expect the chancellor to finally say how he wants to lead this country out of the crisis."
Cautious interpretation of the AfD results
Berlin political scientist Thorsten Faas also expects corrections in the work of the "traffic light". The election result raises the structural question: "How can trust be restored? To do this, a fine line must be found between raising the profile of one's own party, but also a united coalition - especially in terms of appearance."
Faas advised caution when interpreting the vote gains for the AfD. "An incredible number of things happened in the period between the first election in 2021 and the repeat election in 2024," said the party researcher from Freie Universität. These included the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, but also the demonstrations against the right following Correctiv's research into a meeting between radical right-wingers and AfD politicians in Potsdam. "You can't pick out individual things and draw conclusions about their effect," said Faas.
The political director of the Greens, Emily Brüning, saw her party's result as a "tailwind for our work and a good start to this super election year". The Left Party takes a similar view: they will go into the European elections and the 2025 federal elections stronger than before, said Berlin state leader Maximilian Schirmer.
Fewer MPs from Berlin
Although the overall balance of power in the German Bundestag will not change, the election will have an impact. Due to low voter turnout in the re-run, Berlin will only have 25 MPs in the Bundestag instead of the previous 29. One seat each for the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party will go to other state associations of these parties. The FDP will lose one seat without replacement. This means that the Bundestag will now have 735 MPs, including only 91 from the FDP.
The turnout for the entire Berlin Bundestag election - i.e. in the constituencies with valid results and in those with a repeat election - was now 69.5% (2021: 75.2%). This was the lowest figure for a Bundestag election in the state of Berlin since 1990. Several important elections are still to come this year: The European elections on June 9 and the state elections in the eastern German states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic