Will Berlin be governed by an alliance of CDU and SPD in the future? This question largely depends on the outcome of a membership decision by the Social Democrats on the coalition agreement. The SPD wants to present the results on Sunday afternoon. The required minimum participation of 20 percent of the approximately 18,500 voters was reached long before the deadline on Friday evening. As the SPD announced yesterday on Twitter, around 12,000 members took part in the vote.
The SPD in the capital is divided on the question of who should govern Berlin in the future. The state chairwoman and governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, campaigned for black and red. She is willing to give up her post as mayor, which she would have kept if Red-Green-Red continued.
Jusos: “Black corset with red bows”
However, several district associations spoke out against an alliance with the CDU. The Jusos criticized the coalition agreement as “a black corset with red bows” and called for a no. From their point of view, red-green-red is still the first choice. The Greens and Left have recently pointed out several times that it is not yet too late to continue the three-party alliance. Another coalition option would also be black-green.
The counting commission will start work on Sunday morning in the SPD headquarters in Berlin. It has around 60 party members, including twelve members of the state executive committee and twelve representatives from the district associations. They keep to themselves, the count is not public. According to a spokesman for the party, all members of the census commission must hand in their mobile phones. In this way, the SPD wants to prevent information about the vote from leaking out or even finding its way into social media.
In the event that the majority of SPD members say yes to the coalition agreement, the CDU still has to decide. A party conference is planned for Monday. However, the alliance with the SPD is much less controversial among the Christian Democrats.
