As of: February 12, 2024, 2:22 p.m
By: Jens Kiffmeier
Comments
Press
Split
New in the Bundestag: As a result of the Berlin election, left-wing politician Christine Buchholz gained a seat in parliament.
But she doesn't feel like it.
Berlin – One Berliner out, one Hessian in: The result of the 2024 Berlin election has thrown the Bundestag into disarray in some places.
The left-wing politician Christine Buchholz, who won a seat in the German parliament in the partial repeat of the federal election in the capital, was able to benefit.
But the new MP from Hesse is resigning from the mandate – out of frustration with her party.
“The developments of the last few years have repeatedly brought me into conflict with the majority line of the party and the parliamentary group,” she said, explaining her decision, according to a report in the daily newspaper
Neues Deutschland
.
This concerns, in her opinion, an overly defensive approach to criticism of NATO and the German role in the war over Ukraine as well as “their failure to criticize German support for Israel's war in Gaza”.
Result leads to recalculation of seats – Left benefits in Berlin election in 2024
On Sunday, some people in Berlin had to repeat the 2021 federal election.
Because the Berlin election was riddled with bankruptcies, bad luck and mishaps, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that the vote had to be held again in some districts.
Therefore, the nationwide result had to be recalculated.
This resulted in a change in the distribution of seats.
Won a Bundestag mandate in the 2024 Berlin election: Christine Buchholz (Die Linke).
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Due to changes in voter turnout and voting behavior, the seats will also be redistributed among the state associations of the parties.
Four Berlin MPs will no longer be represented in the Bundestag in the future.
This also includes the left-wing parliamentarian Pascal Meiser, who entered the Bundestag via the state list in 2021.
His mandate now initially went to Buchholz from Hesse.
But it's not just Hesse that benefits from the repeat election: According to the preliminary results, another Bundestag seat for the Greens will go to North Rhine-Westphalia, one for the SPD to Lower Saxony, and another for the FDP will be eliminated.
The Bundestag will be smaller accordingly.
In the future, it will only have 735 members.
Result after repeat election: Christine Buchholz renounces her seat
In the 2021 federal election, Buchholz himself ran for the Hessian Left, but narrowly failed to finish at the bottom of the list.
She had previously worked in the Bundestag for twelve years and, according to her own statements, had focused on the areas of war and peace as well as the fight against the right-wing and especially the confrontation with anti-Muslim racism.
But in view of the latest developments in the Israel war or the Ukraine conflict, she can no longer perceive her party as an anti-war party, which is why she is waiving the mandate, she explained to
Neue Deutschland
.
She also ruled out a switch to Sahra Wagenknecht's alliance (BSW).
My news
NATO response to Putin's air strikes: Experts fear a quick shot read
ZDF woman asks Lindner about the traffic lights - then he bursts out: "You understand, that's a problem."
Ukrainian secret service sure: Russia uses Starlink on the front read
Ukraine threatens serious loss of Avdiivka: Kiev takes risks
“War must be brought to Russia”: CDU expert calls for escalation – against the worst case scenario
Putin's troops in trouble: Swedish tank joins the front line
It is unclear who will follow Buchholz.
On the left, however, the development is accepted calmly.
Overall, the party was rather relieved after the Berlin election.
Most recently, the Left had poor poll numbers nationwide and had to split off from Wagenknecht.
However, in the partial repeat in Berlin, the party gained slightly and achieved a total of 11.5 percent.
“We can clearly observe that the government parties lost and the opposition parties won,” said Berlin Left Party leader Maximilian Schirmer to the dpa news agency.
This result will be used as a tailwind in the super election year of 2024.
(
jkf
)