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Mayor Michael Müller or State Secretary Sawsan Chebli - who is allowed to run for the Bundestag in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district?
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / DPA
Berlin's governing mayor Michael Müller has to face a member survey in the SPD district association Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf on the way to a Bundestag candidacy.
The board of the district association decided unanimously in the evening to let all members vote on the Bundestag candidate.
The district chairman Christian Gaebler announced.
After the vote, the candidate will be elected at a constituency conference in November.
A month ago, Müller announced that he would move to the Bundestag in 2021 and run for election in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf constituency.
He has to fight off competition from within the party: The State Secretary for Civic Engagement, Sawsan Chebli, who brought Müller to his Senate Chancellery in 2016, also wants to run.
The decision of who the SPD district association will send in the election in autumn 2021 will now be made by the members.
Their vote is formally not binding.
In practice, however, it is certain that the candidate who is ahead in the survey will be chosen.
Chebli assessed the decision to conduct a member survey as positive.
This strengthens the candidate and ensures "that the circle can go into the election campaign as a whole," she told the dpa news agency.
"In this way we can mobilize the members for the election campaign in advance and face the political opponent in unity and win the Bundestag mandate for the SPD."
Whoever prevails within the party: The direct mandate for the SPD candidate is not certain.
Most recently, the CDU triumphed in the constituency.
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kfr / dpa