Berlin welcomes its first female mayor

The SPD had reason to celebrate on Monday when, according to preliminary results, the Social Democrats were ahead not only in the federal elections, but also in the city of Berlin.

SPD wins election in Berlin

According to preliminary results, the SPD secured a narrow victory in the Berlin election on Monday. Franziska Giffey, the SPD’s candidate for the mayor of the capital, won 21.4 percent of the vote in front of Bettina Jarasch from the Greens (18.9 percent) and Kai Wenger from the CDU (18.1 percent) in a good election margin.

Giffey becomes Berlin’s first female mayor. In the meantime, she has told reporters that she will talk to both the Greens and the CDU about possible coalition options and that she wants to “bring as much as possible of the SPD’s program into the coalition negotiations.” A coalition of the SPD, the Greens and Die Linke Berlin is currently in power.

Should Giffey be successful, Berlin would be the third federal state after Rhineland-Palatinate and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with a woman at the top. The two federal states are also governed by SPD minister-presidents.

SPD re-elected in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also elected a new Prime Minister on Sunday; Manuela Schwesig from the SPD was re-elected with a decisive victory. In the northeast, the SPD received 39.6 percent of the vote, followed by the AfD (16.7 percent). Schwesig has been Prime Minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 2017, making it the first woman in office. “This evening belongs to the women. The women who, well over a hundred years before us, ensured that we had the right to vote and could stand for election. she said on Twitter.

The SPD has held the office of Prime Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 1998. The party is currently forming a coalition with the CDU in the country, but the CDU achieved its lowest vote ever with only 13.3 percent. It is speculated whether the SPD will renew its partnership with the CDU, since the party with a direct mandate now has several coalition options.