Berlin election tighter than expected
Giffey leads Greens by just 53 votes
02/25/2023, 5:35 p.m
In sports, one would speak of a photo finish: According to a report, the SPD came second in the repeated elections in Berlin with a mere wafer-thin lead. The lead is therefore just 53 votes.
The official final result of the repeat election in Berlin is still pending. But in the end, the SPD, with Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey as the top candidate, will probably only just be able to hold its ground in second place. The Social Democrats are only 53 votes ahead of the third-placed Greens, as the “Bild” newspaper reports with reference to the documents available from the election committee.
According to this, the CDU received 428,228 votes in the final election result, which means 28.2 percent of all votes. The SPD achieved 279,017 votes (18.4 percent), the Greens 278,964 votes (18.4 percent). In the end, the lead of the SPD could be even narrower than the provisional result of the election: According to this, the SPD still had a lead of around a hundred votes over the Greens.
According to the report by the “Bild” newspaper, the left received 185,119 votes (12.2 percent), the AfD 137,871 votes (9.1 percent). And the FDP missed the 5 percent hurdle with 70,416 votes (4.6 percent). State Returning Officer Stephan Bröchler wants to announce the official result of the February 12 election on Monday.
Next week, the Berlin parties also want to announce which governing coalition they are aiming for. The winner of the election, the CDU, had already held several exploratory talks with the SPD and also with the Greens. So far, according to CDU top candidate Kai Wegner, there has been no indication that the Union has a preference for either party. At the same time, the SPD and the Greens are exploring with their previous coalition partner, the left.
