Status: 16.01.2024, 15:53 PM
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Tobias Eckert (SPD), new chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament. © Arne Dedert/dpa
The new Hessian state parliament continues to take shape. On Tuesday, several parliamentary groups elected their executive committee. The SPD personnel change stands for a generational change - and comes as a surprise to many.
Wiesbaden - Two days before the constituent session of the new Hessian state parliament, the SPD parliamentary group has elected a new chairman, Tobias Eckert. The 43-year-old prevailed in the vote with twelve to eleven votes against MP Lisa Gnadl, a parliamentary group spokesman said on Tuesday. The previous parliamentary group leader Günter Rudolph did not run again. Eckert was previously deputy chairman of the parliamentary group as well as spokesman for economic and transport policy.
With the personnel change, the parliamentary group decided for a generational change - and against a proposal of the SPD state chairwoman Nancy Faeser. At the presentation of the new black-red cabinet on Monday, the Federal Minister of the Interior had recommended that the 67-year-old Rudolph be confirmed in the office of parliamentary group leader. He had made a significant contribution to the formation of the new coalition, she had explained. Rudolph had already come away empty-handed in the distribution of SPD ministerial posts.
The newly elected parliamentary group leader Eckert thanked his predecessor for "many years of service". Rudolph had had a "significant and lasting impact" on the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament for twelve years as parliamentary secretary and since 2021 as chairman, Eckert explained. The 42-year-old Gnadl was elected as the new parliamentary secretary, as the SPD parliamentary group further announced. Daniela Sommer, the former Parliamentary Secretary, will be proposed as Vice-President of the State Parliament.
In the case of the CDU, Ines Claus remains at the head of the parliamentary group in the state parliament. The 46-year-old received 46 votes in favor and 3 votes against. The new parliamentary secretary of the Christian Democrats is Ingo Schon. The 47-year-old is entering the state parliament as a member of parliament for the first time. He replaces Holger Bellino, who, according to Claus, was Parliamentary Secretary for more than 13 years. According to the proposal of the CDU parliamentary group, Astrid Wallmann is to remain president of the state parliament, and Frank Lortz will again be sent into the race as vice president.
The AfD parliamentary group confirmed its chairman Robert Lambrou and parliamentary secretary Frank Grobe in office. As announced, MP Anna Nguyen has been nominated as a candidate for the vice presidency of the state parliament. However, it is questionable whether the AfD parliamentary group will be able to fill one of the expected five deputy posts. In the previous legislative period, the candidates of the right-wing populist party had always failed to get the necessary number of votes in parliament.
According to Claus, the CDU parliamentary group will not elect the AfD candidate for the office of vice president of the state parliament. Mathias Wagner, chairman of the Green parliamentary group, said: "So far, we have not had the confidence in any member of the AfD parliamentary group that the state parliament will be represented in a dignified and appropriate manner. I don't think that has changed in the new parliamentary term - quite the opposite." A spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group also said that the AfD candidate would not be elected.
The outgoing parliamentary group leader of the Left Party, Elisabeth Kula, said that the Left Party wanted to remain active outside parliament and was aiming to re-enter the state parliament in five years. Since the state elections in October, the party says it has been able to gain more than 200 new members in the state association. "It's encouraging," Kula said. Dpa