Fate election 2023: This trio could challenge Markus Söder

Created: 01/04/2022, 8:23 PM

From: Mike Schier

Markus Söder wants to be re-elected as Prime Minister in 2023.

© Tobias Hase / dpa

For the first time, the CSU is openly concerned about maintaining power.

But who from the opposition could pose a threat to Markus Söder?

A candidate is still too young.

Munich - Martin Hagen had a great bang at the turn of the year. The 41-year-old posed for the

front of his garden door with New Year's Eve rockets. “Despite the sales ban - FDP * man still thunders New Year's Eve,” headlined the newspaper. The response in the social networks was enormous. Hagen made it into the Twitter trends, was celebrated and insulted, a Green * from Berlin even threatened him with a complaint. Seldom does a Bavarian opposition politician get so much attention. Hagen reminded a little of the young Markus Söder *, who had become known throughout Germany through such campaigns.

Many in the state parliament shook their heads at the action.

But they are also a little jealous.

Because, especially in the opposition, most of them struggle with the problem of Bavarian voters not being aware of them.

That is why they are now thinking in the party headquarters about how to position themselves for the state elections in autumn 2023.

Sure: the election campaign won't start until next year, but the foundations need to be laid now.

And the strategies are very different.

Söder's challenger: Despite resistance at the beginning - the SPD could already have found candidates

Suddenly the SPD * finds itself in the lead again. For a long time, the comrades in the Free State were in free fall - but in the slipstream of Olaf Scholz * the survey numbers have doubled. The winner is Florian von Brunn, parliamentary group leader and state chairman. It cannot be said that the hearts of the party flown to him immediately, he came into both offices with massive opposition. But now everything seems to come down to his top candidacy, especially since his (largely unknown) co-chair Ronja Endres (35) is unlikely to become prime minister yet. According to the constitution, the head of government must have reached the age of 40.

The comrades want to determine the candidate this year, in late summer or autumn.

A lesson from the traffic light election campaign in the federal government.

Scholz was nominated early on and then watched the Greens and Union get tangled up in their K-questions.

Von Brunn's direction is clear: “I can easily imagine traffic lights in Bavaria too,” he says.

The SPD for social affairs and work, the Greens for ecology, the FDP for business.

"That complements each other quite well."

Greens in Bavaria: Baerbock as a warning example - and a top candidate problem

The Greens have also learned from the general election. Only with exactly the opposite consequence. "This year there will certainly not be any personnel decisions," says parliamentary group leader Ludwig Hartmann. One remembers Annalena Baerbock and her anger about books or additional income. It is about setting up the content. "Building trust is the most important thing for us," says Hartmann. "We now have to prove to Bavaria that the traffic light in Berlin will bring good results for all of us in the Free State."

Hartmann, a good strategist but not a great rhetorician, was the top candidate in the last election. This time he says: “We want to position ourselves broadly in terms of personnel.” In the end, however, it could come down to him again. His co-parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze is much better known than he is, but will still only be 38 next autumn. The two regional leaders Eva Lettenbauer and Thomas von Sarnowski are also not 40.

Martin Hagen does not see himself as a prime minister candidate despite good poll numbers.

In the last election, the FDP barely made it into the state parliament.

Nevertheless, Hagen is self-confident.

And he doesn't want to hang around too much with the new friends at the traffic lights.

“The FDP will go into the election campaign as an independent force.

There is no coalition in the opposition, ”he clarifies.

The FDP keeps everything open.

"Markus Söder seems disoriented at the moment, but the CSU * remains a potential coalition partner for us."