The last chance was on Friday evening at 11:59 p.m. The SPD’s Kurt Schumacher House in Berlin’s Wedding closed at midnight sharp. Only ballots that have arrived at the headquarters of the state association in the capital by then will be counted.
Around 19,000 Social Democrats were asked to cast their vote in the past few weeks: should the SPD govern Berlin as a junior partner with the CDU for the next three years? Yes or no?
The votes will be counted from Sunday, and the result of the member survey should be announced on the same day or on Monday at the latest. The party conference of the Berlin CDU will vote on the negotiated coalition agreement on Monday. If both parties agree, the alliance should be signed on Wednesday. The latest debates show that this is far from a foregone conclusion, especially in the SPD. Nobody dared to make a serious prognosis about the vote of the members until the end.
There is considerable resistance to the planned alliance with the CDU in several district associations, in the SPD youth organization Jusos and in trade unions. Among other things, the contract has been criticized for the planned expansion of police surveillance and a car-centric traffic policy. This cuts the SPD’s breath off, said Juso state chairwoman Sinem Taşan-Funke of the DPA news agency.
But what if the majority of the comrades refuse to approve the coalition agreement? Then both Berlin’s state politics and the capital’s SPD with Franziska Giffey, who is still mayor, are heading for turbulent times – there would be many losers, but also some laughing winners.
There is a lot at stake in the SPD membership vote for everyone involved. The ballot papers are ready for counting in sealed ballot boxes in the Kurt Schumacher House. One thing was certain, at least on Friday morning: the vote of the SPD members will be binding, because the necessary quorum of 20 percent of those entitled to vote had already been significantly exceeded at 62 percent. The leadership of the Berlin SPD will have to stick to the result – with all its consequences.
Sources: SPD Berlin, coalition agreement, “Tagesspiegel” (paid content), “Bild” newspaper, DPA news agency