The Christian Democrat Kai Wegner was elected this Thursday mayor governor of Berlin by the regional Parliament, thus becoming the first conservative mayor of the German capital in twenty-two years. Since 2001 he had led the government coalitions of the city – which has the rank of land (federated state) – the Social Democratic Party, which will now continue as a minority partner of the new ruling coalition, headed by the Christian Democrat CDU. The outgoing Social Democratic mayor, Franziska Giffey, will be the new head of the Economy in this Grosse Koalition Executive (grand coalition), that is, the one made up of the two most voted parties.
Kai Wegner was elected mayor-governor in the third vote –in which a simple majority was enough-, after not reaching the required absolute majority in the first two, which is 80 votes in this chamber of 159 seats. The two failed attempts indicate Social Democratic discontent with the pact (in the first it had 71 votes and in the second, 79), since the CDU and SPD add up to 86 years. Then, when Wegner was finally elected on the third ballot, he surpassed the absolute majority, obtaining 86 votes in favor. There were 70 votes against and 3 abstentions.
This replacement at the head of Berlin has taken place after a long succession of negotiations between the two parties and ratification by the bases of voters (in the case of the SPD) and party delegates (in the case of the CDU) in the capital, after that the repetition of the regional elections on February 12 yielded a clear victory for the conservatives, with 28.2% of the vote.
The elections were repeated by court decision due to errors and disorganization at the polls in the initial appointment – ​​held on September 26, 2021, concurrently with the German general elections – which led to a Social Democratic victory. Then-victorious Giffey became mayor in December 2021, leading a tripartite governing coalition with environmentalists and Die Linke leftists.
The results of the February electoral repetition, in which the SPD came second with 18.4% of the vote, arithmetically allowed Franziska Giffey to reissue her government with greens and leftists. The figures also allowed the Christian Democrat winner, Kai Wegner, to form a government by agreeing with the Greens.
However, in a decision that stings many Social Democratic militants, especially the youth, Giffey proposed an alliance to Wegner, even at the cost of losing her mayoral position. Franziska Giffey argued that the polls indicated that voters did not want a rerun of the outgoing coalition, and that the SPD risked scoring even worse in the next election if it did.
Significantly, the Berlin membership of the SPD approved the pact last Sunday with only 54.3% of the vote. The assembly of about 300 Berlin delegates from the CDU approved it on Monday. Both ratifications sealed the way for the election this Thursday of Kai Wegner, a native of Berlin, as the first conservative mayor of the city since Eberhard Diepgen, who was from 1991 to 2001.
Among the most urgent tasks facing the new Berlin government is affordable housing. Berlin, long ago a city with reasonable costs to be the capital of a country, has become much more expensive in recent years, and is now the second most expensive city in Germany after Munich. With 3.8 million inhabitants and less than 1% of available housing, it needs more new construction. The government program agreed at the beginning of April between the CDU and SPD also focuses on mobility, the improvement of education, the digitization of the administration and the plural character of the city.
The CDU will have five senators (the Berlin regional government is called the Senate, and the regional ministers, senators): Justice, Environment, Culture, Finance and Education. The SPD will have the other five portfolios: Economy (Franziska Giffey), Labor and Social Affairs, Housing, Science and Health, and Interior and Sports.
The new government will rule the remainder of the legislature that began after the September 2021 elections, so the next appointment with the polls will be in the fall of 2026. Regional elections in Germany are held every five years, depending on when it comes in each land.
