Newspaper: Losse-Müller is to become the new leader of the SPD parliamentary group

Created: 05/16/2022Updated: 05/16/2022 16:34

Thomas Losse-Müller (SPD) answers questions from journalists.

© Axel Heimken/dpa/archive image

The party and faction leader of the SPD, Serpil Midyatli, wanted to quickly get back to business after the lost state elections in Schleswig-Holstein.

Nothing will come of it.

Now there are indications of a division of responsibility between the party and the parliamentary group.

Kiel - But no further so with the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein: A good week after the heavy election defeat of the SPD in the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein, there are signs of a change at the top of the parliamentary group.

As the "Kieler Nachrichten" reported on Monday, citing party circles, top candidate Thomas Losse-Müller is to become the new parliamentary group leader and replace Serpil Midyatli.

Losse-Müller and Midyatli could not initially be reached for comment on Monday.

A party spokesman confirmed that both politicians met over the weekend.

The parliamentary group wants to elect its parliamentary group leadership on Wednesday at a closed meeting in Hohwacht (Ploen district).

In the May 8 election, the SPD suffered a historic defeat with just 16 percent of the vote.

Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), on the other hand, has various options with his party's election result of 43.4 percent.

He can continue the Jamaica coalition with the Greens and FDP, which he wants, or enter into a two-party alliance with one of the two parties.

Midyatli, who entered the state parliament for the first time in 2009, was seen as a beacon of hope for the SPD in the north.

The 46-year-old was elected state chairman in 2019 and rose to deputy chairman in the federal SPD.

After she took over the parliamentary group chair from Ralf Stegner in 2021 and thus became the leader of the opposition, she could have stood as a top candidate in the state elections.

Instead, shortly before the federal elections last year, she presented Losse-Müller as a candidate for the post of head of government.

The calculation that the candidate, who had just switched from the Greens to the SPD, would quickly become known and could stand up to Günther, did not work out.

As a direct candidate, Midyatli herself lost the direct mandate in her Kiel-Ost constituency, which was considered safe, against the largely unknown CDU politician Seyran Papo (34).

The SPD did not win a single one of the 35 constituencies in the country.

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The day after the election, Midyatli announced that he wanted to take over the presidency of the parliamentary group, which had shrunk from 21 to 12 members, as early as Tuesday (May 10).

Losse-Müller said he did not want to lead the faction because he had been the face of the election campaign.

After internal criticism of the fast procedure, both rowed back together and postponed the decision to the closed conference.

"We have no pressure," she said, explaining that she was not needed for exploratory and coalition talks.

dpa