Conservative Kai Wegner was elected this Thursday as the new mayor-governor of the city-state of Berlin in the third ballot and after two failed consultations between members of the local parliament, which do not bode well for the grand coalition between Christian Democrats ( CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD). The first CDU mayor in Berlin for more than 20 years, he eventually won the support of 86 of the 159 regional deputies and apparently secured an absolute majority thanks to the support of representatives of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). ), a provocative support that poisons the election as the populist formation is subjected to strict isolation by the rest of the German parties. CDU and SPD have a majority of 86 seats in the Berlin regional chamber, but a significant number of Social Democratic representatives reject the new government alliance, openly rebel and boycott the first two votes. In the first, Wegner received only 71 of the 80 votes needed and in the second 79. Despite the scandalous development of the day and the practical certainty that the new mayor of Berlin was supported in his election by the extreme right, Wegner accepted the result and became then sworn in. The alderman expressly thanked his predecessor, the Social Democrat Franziska Giffey, who now takes up the Economics portfolio in his cabinet and with whom he negotiated the pact for the co-government of the two major German political parties in the country’s capital . Standard Related News No Berlin will have a conservative mayor for the first time in over 20 years Juan Carlos Barrena Christian Democrat Kai Wegner will lead the new grand coalition the CDU and SPD have agreed on. In a final vote, AfD leader in the regional chamber, Kristin Brinker, had communicated that her parliamentary group had decided to support Wegner’s election for “responsibility for the entire city”. Whether his support and the rejection of a group of SPD deputies was a reality will be difficult to verify as the vote was secret. But the finding that the ultranationalists may have been decisive in the election of Wegner because the coalition of CDU and SPD was unable to crown him already weighs heavily on the person concerned and the political alliance he leads. In any case, alternative to Germany has already managed to divide the two major German formations, which after the second ballot launched mutual accusations for the failure of the first two attempts to elect a municipal councilor. “In the SPD there are many who are taking advantage of the election of the mayor-governor to pass the bill for Franziska Giffey and Raed Saleh,” said conservative federal deputy Jan Marco Luczak, referring to the two co-chairs of the Social Democracy in the German capital. Luczak also called the Social Democratic regional deputies “irresponsible” for boycotting the elections. “I am sure that (the boycott) is part of the ranks of the CDU. I hope that Mr. Wegner calls his people to order,” said Berlin Social Democratic deputy Orkan Özdemir, who acknowledged, however, that among his colleagues in the regional chamber there are at least “two well-known rebels” who would in no way vote for the conservative candidate. Especially in the social-democratic bases there was a strong rejection of the coalition negotiated with the CDU. The grand coalition In a binding consultation between the bases of the SPD in the German capital, only 54.3% of them for a new edition of the grand coalition. The Berlin Christian Democrats had unanimously approved the alliance at an extraordinary congress held Monday. Wegner and Giffey previously negotiated a 137-page coalition agreement with their respective teams that, among other things, a multimillion-dollar program for climate protection, the reform of the stagnant city government, better endowments for the police and the fire brigade. department and progress in housing construction, which is in great short supply in the German capital and where purchase and rental prices have skyrocketed in recent years. Berlin has so far been governed by a tripartite coalition led by the SPD and with Los Verdes and La Izquierda as junior partners. Despite the CDU’s victory in the regional elections last February, the red-red-red-green alliance had a sufficient majority to continue to govern, an opportunity that Giffey rejected to negotiate with the conservatives, drawing the wrath of many. of his supporters. social democrats. In that election, the Social Democrats fell to second place on the political spectrum with just 53 more votes than the Greens at the final tally. The February vote was a repeat of the elections held in autumn 2021 by order of the German Constitutional Court due to the irregularities and errors then recorded on election day.
Source: La Verdad
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