As of: February 12, 2024, 4:39 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
Due to numerous breakdowns, the 2021 federal election in Berlin had to be partially repeated.
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Actually, the partial repetition of the federal election does not have much significance.
But losses by the SPD and FDP and the AfD result are enough to make parties nervous.
Berlin - Losses for the traffic light parties SPD and FDP, gains for CDU and AfD: The partial repeat of the federal election in Berlin increases the pressure on the coalition to counter its downward trend, which has also been documented in surveys.
The results from Sunday have limited significance: After the 2021 election failure, only around a fifth of Berlin's electoral districts were re-voted, and far less than one percent of those eligible to vote in Germany voted.
But the repeat election marks the start of the important election year of 2024 - and the parties certainly see it as a pointer.
There is little time left until the European elections on June 9th and the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September.
And so FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki called for a course correction after his party's “bitter result”.
Berlin's SPD leader Franziska Giffey demanded that her party in the federal government must take up "the dissatisfaction that exists among the population" more strongly.
The CDU state leader and governing mayor Kai Wegner viewed the result as a stop signal for the traffic lights.
Partial elections brought some changes
The nationwide overall result for 2021 only changed minimally due to the partial repetition: the FDP (11.4 percent) and the Greens (14.7 percent) each lost 0.1 percentage points.
The CDU (19.0 percent) and AfD (10.4 percent) each received 0.1 points more.
For the SPD (25.7 percent) and the Left (4.9 percent) everything remained the same.
The shifts were somewhat clearer after the new Berlin state results (repeated votes together with those results from 2021, which remained valid): The SPD remained the strongest party with 22.2 percent (-1.2 percentage points), just ahead of the Greens with 22.0 percent (-0.3).
The CDU improved to 17.2 percent (+1.3).
The AfD climbed to 9.4 percent (+1.0), the FDP fell to 8.1 percent (-0.9).
The Left maintained its result with 11.5 percent (+0.1).
The returning officer did not publish the results of just the electoral districts in which elections were held again.
Some media made their own calculations: According to “Tagesspiegel”, this shows that the SPD and FDP lost even more compared to 2021, the Greens and the Left made slight gains, and the CDU and AfD made strong gains.
Greens are holding their own
And what insights did the Berlin “mini federal election,” as Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) called it with a wink, bring?
First of all: not all traffic lights are the same.
While the Chancellor's party, the SPD and the FDP, suffered significant losses, the Greens appeared more stable - unlike in the state elections in Hesse and Bavaria last year.
The colorful metropolis of Berlin is obviously a good place for the eco-party even in difficult times.
The large protest rallies against right-wing extremism, some of which were also directed against the AfD, may also have contributed to the Greens' account.
My news
2 hours ago
Criminals cause real estate prices to explode: buyers compete with “criminals from all over the world” read
NATO seeks response to Putin's air strikes: Experts fear a quick read
Ukraine threatens serious loss of Avdiivka: Kiev takes risks
Without Americans: Germany is working on Ukraine's liberation strike
Ukraine secret service safe: Russia uses Starlink on the front read
“War must be brought to Russia”: CDU expert calls for escalation – against the worst case scenario
FDP has to do something
The situation is different for the FDP, which even lost a mandate in the Bundestag.
“It must be clear to the FDP that only a bolder and more progressive economic, energy and migration policy will lead to success,” Kubicki told the German Press Agency.
There is much to suggest that the FDP is now even less willing to compromise than before.
In fact, the Berlin political scientist Thorsten Faas expects corrections in the work of the traffic light.
The election result raises the question: “How can trust be restored?”
To do this, you have to find a fine line between raising the profile of your own party, but also forming a cohesive coalition - especially in terms of appearance.”
Opposition is happy
The CDU, on the other hand, sees itself on course.
On her posters she called on voters to stop the traffic lights - and is now interpreting their growth, which was recently shown in nationwide surveys, accordingly.
“People want something to change,” said Prime Minister Wegner to the dpa.
“They expect the Chancellor to finally say how he wants to lead this country out of the crisis.”
Election day was satisfactory for the AfD, even if there was no major breakthrough.
She has to continue to bake smaller rolls in Berlin than in eastern German states.
But some results make you sit up and take notice.
According to media calculations, the AfD became the strongest party in the eastern Marzahn-Hellersdorf constituency in the voting districts affected by the repeat with 33.1 percent.
However, new elections were only held in six percent of the voting districts, and the SPD is still ahead in terms of the overall result.
Faas advised caution when interpreting the vote gains for the AfD.
A lot has happened since the original election in 2021: the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East, the building energy law, the demonstrations after the Correctiv research at a meeting of radical right-wingers with AfD politicians, the party researcher explained.
“You can’t pick out individual things and draw conclusions about their effect.”
Fewer MPs from Berlin
Although the overall balance of power in the Bundestag does not change, the election still has an impact.
Due to low voter turnout, Berlin only has 25 members of the Bundestag instead of the previous 29 on Sunday.
One mandate each from the SPD, the Greens and the Left goes to other regional associations of these parties; one mandate from the FDP is no longer replaced.
This means that in the future there will still be 735 members of the Bundestag, including only 91 from the FDP.
dpa