The fact that the leftist Sören Benn remains mayor in the most populous Berlin district of Pankow is considered a surprise.
The way he chose is now causing debate.
What role did the AfD play?
Berlin - The re-election of the left-wing politician Sören Benn as district mayor of Berlin-Pankow has sparked a violent dispute.
The Greens, whose candidate was inferior to him, and the FDP assumed, despite a secret vote, that Benn had allowed himself to be elected with the votes of the AfD in the district council assembly (BVV).
The left dismissed this as an unsubstantiated and unfounded claim.
Benn has been mayor of Berlin's largest district with 410,000 inhabitants since 2016.
In the BVV election on September 26, the Greens had become the strongest party ahead of the Left and the SPD, but apparently could not forge a majority for their mayoral candidate Cordelia Koch.
Result: Benn was elected to the BVV, which has 55 members, on Thursday evening with 29 votes in favor, 24 against and 2 abstentions.
Left (12 seats) and SPD (11 seats), who declared their support for his candidacy, come together but only have 23 votes. Therefore, at least six members of other political groups must have voted for the 53-year-old. Greens (16 seats), who had excluded this in advance, CDU (8 seats), AfD (5 seats) and FDP (3 seats) come into question. Benn would have needed 28 votes for the necessary majority.
After the election defeat, the Greens sharply criticized the left - although both parties are currently negotiating with the SPD at state level to continue their coalition formed in 2016. "If you lose the election, you don't let the right-wing extremists help you into office," tweeted the Greens federal manager Michael Kellner on Friday. “Those who make themselves dependent on Nazis with full eyesight make themselves dependent on Nazis. That also applies to @LinkePankow! ”Tweeted the Greens state chairman Werner Graf.
The left reacted with outrage. "In view of the discussions that we had with all the democratic representatives before the vote, we were sure that we would achieve the required simple majority," said the deputy Berlin state chairwoman and Pankow district chairwoman Sandra Brunner. Based on corresponding signals in the run-up, her party assumes that Benn was elected "with the support of individual representatives from the democratic camp". "Without these - credible - signals, Sören Benn would not have run."
The AfD Pankow said they supported Benn - after weighing the question of which candidate was best suited for the office.
“Local politics is about looking beyond party lines and ideological divisions.” The chairman of the FDP district association Pankow and FDP state vice-president Daniela Kluckert said: “It was not our voices that elected Benn mayor.
And the CDU probably not either. "
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Benn himself is stunned by the debate and referred via Twitter to his clear positions against the AfD, which he described as “political horror clowns”.
“Anyone who believes Nazis believes Nazis.
Do all of them.
It's a great story, ”he tweeted, obviously ironic.
In several tweets, Green politicians drew parallels to the election of FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as Thuringian Prime Minister in February 2020. At that time, he was elected in the state parliament with votes from liberals, CDU and AfD - which had triggered a political tremor.
Because it was the first time that the AfD helped a prime minister into office.
"Anyone who wants to compare the election of Sören Benn in Pankow with Thuringia & Kemmerich should recognize that the AfD wants to prevent left-wing politicians, but does not vote," countered the left-wing federal chairman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow on Twitter.
dpa