Skip next section SPD to seek talks with upstart left party BSW
09/23/2024September 23, 2024
SPD to seek talks with upstart left party BSW
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert said talks the newly formed left-wingwere in sight.
“It’s simple mathematics now,” Kühnert told German public media on Monday.
The BSW is a movement founded this year by , who was a leader of the Left party. , to reorient leftwing voters with a message critical of the country’s immigration policies and Germany’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
BSW was successful in Brandenburg, coming in third with 13.5%, ahead of the CDU which garnered 12.1%. No other parties made it into the Potsdam state parliament, including Wagenknecht’s former party, the Left.
The SPD and BSW have 46 of the 88 seats in the new state parliament, which would represent a majority.
Kühnert said that as the SPD has ruled out any cooperation with the AfD “and as it is not enough with the CDU together, talks will certainly now take place with the BSW in Brandenburg.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4kyII
Skip next section AfD to have ‘blocking minority’ in Brandenburg
09/23/2024September 23, 2024
AfD to have ‘blocking minority’ in Brandenburg
Although AfD came in second and will not be considered by other parties for coalition, it will now be a so-called “Sperrminorität”, or blocking minority, on it’s own.
With 30 seats out of the chamber’s 88, the AfD can block big bills by itself and that includes two-thirds majority decisions.
In German parliaments, a two-thirds majority is required to change or modify some decisions of great consequence like changing the constitution or making appointments to bodies key to the functioning of democracy and the rule of law.
Although the rule was designed to stop any one party capturing the state and transforming it, as the Nazi’s did in 1933, it can also provide outsize influence for parties to disrupt the governing process, should one choose to do so.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kxzn
Skip next section SPD squeaks by, while AfD makes gains
09/23/2024September 23, 2024
SPD squeaks by, while AfD makes gains
in Sunday’s regional elections in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
The Social Democrats were , and had been polling at 20% weeks ago. On Sunday, they won the election with 30.9%, according to provisional official results by the State Electoral Commissioner.
Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had been leading the polls for the past two years in the state, won 29.2% of the vote.
This means the AfD has grown some 5.7% since the last Brandenburg election five years ago.
The results come after AfD became the first far-right party to , after coming out on top in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier in September.
The AfD’s platform has capitalized on growing voter dissatisfaction over high cost-of-living, immigration and the war in Ukraine.
https://p.dw.com/p/4kxz0
Skip next section Survey shows record turnout in Brandenburg to curb AfD
09/23/2024September 23, 2024
Survey shows record turnout in Brandenburg to curb AfD
Brandenburg’s election drew a record turnout for the federal state, with 72.9% of voters participating in the election.
The surprise results appeared to be driven by a rejection of AfD. More than three-quarters of those who voted for the said they did so as a vote against AfD, according to the exit poll published by broadcaster ARD.
Brandenburg’s long-time incumbent state premier, the SPD’s Dietmar Woidke, had avoided campaigning with fellow party member Olaf with Scholz, Germany’s current chancellor who is now the least popular chancellor on record.
Distancing himself from the SPD brand, Woidke instead made the election a referendum on his own personal popularity, vowing to step down if his party didn’t come out on top.
jcg/wmr /AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
https://p.dw.com/p/4kxz5
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