Enlarge image
Governing mayor of Berlin and top candidate of the Berlin SPD at the SPD election party
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
Not an easy evening for the woman from Neukölln: Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) suffered a hearty defeat in the repeat of the House of Representatives election in the fight for a direct mandate.
The top candidate of the Social Democrats lost in the Neukölln 6 constituency against the CDU candidate Olaf Schenk, as could be seen on the website of the state election authority on Sunday evening.
After counting all areas, Giffey had 29.6 percent of the first votes, Schenk 45.3 percent.
Top candidate Giffey has a place in the House of Representatives via her party's list.
more on the subject
Giffey and the SPD defeat: The loser just wants to stay seatedBy Sophie Garbe and Guido Mingels
In the September 2021 election, Giffey also ran in the Neukölln 6 constituency and clearly won the direct mandate with 40.8 percent of the first votes.
It was then that she entered the House of Representatives for the first time.
Previously, the 44-year-old was district mayor of the Neukölln district from 2015 to 2018.
In March 2018, Giffey resigned to become federal family minister.
She resigned from office in May 2021 – in the course of a plagiarism scandal involving her doctorate.
Other members of the Berlin state government were also punished in the direct election.
Building Senator Andreas Geisel did not receive enough votes for a direct mandate.
The SPD politician came in third place on Sunday in the Lichtenberg 6 constituency with 19.7 percent, according to figures from the state election management.
CDU politician Lilia Usik won the direct mandate in the constituency with 22.7 percent.
As Interior Senator, Geisel was responsible for the parliamentary elections in autumn 2021, which were repeated on Sunday due to numerous mishaps.
In the 2021 election, Geisel had won the constituency with more than 27 percent of the first votes.
Saleh loses direct mandate in Spandau
The SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh and the Greens' top candidate Bettina Jarasch were also unable to win a direct mandate in the parliamentary elections.
Both were defeated by the CDU candidate Ersin Nas in the Spandau 2 constituency.
Accordingly, 33.6 percent of the first votes went to Nas, 25.9 percent to Saleh and 10.3 percent to Jarasch.
For the CDU, this meant an increase of 11.3 percentage points compared to the 2016 parliamentary elections. Saleh, on the other hand, lost 11.3 percentage points compared to 2016.
Saleh has been in the House of Representatives since 2006 - always with the direct mandate of the Spandau 2 constituency. In the 2021 House of Representatives election, which was declared invalid due to glitches, the 45-year-old received 32.3 percent of the first votes there, his best result was 39.9 percent in the election 2011
mfh/dpa
