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SPD leader Lars Klingbeil: criticism of the Minister of Health
Photo: IMAGO/Frederic Kern / IMAGO/Future Image
The crash of the Social Democrats in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia caused controversy behind the scenes.
In the presidium meeting of the SPD on Monday, party leader Lars Klingbeil buttoned up Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, according to SPIEGEL information, because he had described the result as a clear defeat shortly after the polling stations closed.
It would be good if, in such an election, everyone adhered to the communication strategy that had been decided, Klingbeil was quoted as saying by participants at the meeting - "also a federal minister".
Lauterbach himself was not present at the meeting.
Several participants confirmed Klingbeil's criticism to SPIEGEL.
The health minister had intoned his analysis of the NRW result on the evening of the election in a strikingly different way than the party leadership.
While Klingbeil and SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert emphasized that they had achieved the central election goal of replacing the black and yellow state government, Lauterbach emphasized the poor result of the SPD.
“We lost that election.
The Union and the Greens won, so they have to conduct the talks first.
Everything else comes afterwards, "said Lauterbach on Sunday evening on ARD.
At the top of the party, the health minister's statements were quickly seen as strategically unfortunate, since several coalition options are conceivable - including the traffic light led by the Social Democrats.
The SPD suffered a historic defeat in the elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The party only got 26.7 percent, 4.5 percentage points less than in the 2017 election, in which red-green were voted out.
Nevertheless, the SPD leadership emphasizes that in NRW there is an option for a traffic light alliance with the Greens and FDP.
cte/vme