If one trusts the polls, the SPD will win on Sunday the worst election result of its history in Bavaria. Between 11 and 13 percent predicted by the demoscopes. This is so bad that it is extraordinary even for the Bavarian SPD. The party may slipping to fourth or fifth place in the party spectrum on Sunday.

Now the Bavarian SPD has been in opposition for over 60 years. And with almost every election it gets worse. In addition, the crisis of the federal party at the regional association. Losing has tradition with the white and blue comrades.

This time Natascha Kohnen is tuned. The top candidate of the SPD is facing the particularly bitter situation that after all these decades finally the CSU is weakening massively - but so far not the Social Democrats can profit, but Greens and right-wing populists.

At the SPD election campaign highlight in Munich's Augustiner Keller this week, the 50-year-old Kohnen makes a good face to the bad game. The SPD base is also pulling, bracing itself. There are beer, cold plates with salami, meatballs, cheese snacks. The food is unpretentious and unpretentious, the SPD wants to present itself. On the tables are party flags, the first 400 guests get a brand for a free drink. The SPD gets rid of its brands, after all, the hall is full.

The question remains: why does Kohnen even do that?

"We hold together as never before," she calls later in the hall. "It not only gives me strength, but it gives us all the strength we need now." The time for the SPD is difficult: "But I also tell you: because we are so closed, we can give everything!"

MIRROR ONLINE

Kohnen came late into politics, only at age 33, she became a member of the SPD, because she found no day care for their children.

She quickly made a career, in 2008 she moved to the state legislature and in 2009 Secretary General of the State Party. In 2017 she took over the party presidency from Florian Pronold and was unanimously voted top candidate by the state board.

She had printed on her election posters "Decency", wants to stage as a kind of "anti-Söder". Credibility and honesty are important to her, which she emphasizes wherever she can. Kohnen has criticized SPD leader Andrea Nahles for her approval for the interim promotion of the outgoing intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maaßen, wrote a letter to the chairman and praised Nahles' subsequent apology.

In its election campaign, the SPD has focused on housing. Many think that this is a mistake in the party. Because the too expensive rents are a problem especially in Munich and Nuremberg - both cities have been ruled for ages by the SPD. Building is indeed a matter for the state, but also for the municipalities. In addition, it is an urban problem, in the country, the SPD could lose votes with it.

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Kohnen also talks little about refugees. But the political discourse in Bavaria is dominated by this topic. Not to face it - that is an at least questionable strategy.

From the Bundestag faction it is already said that Kohnen have led a "green light" election campaign, which is a serious mistake. Because the voter loves the original, not the copy. In the polarization between the Greens and CSU the SPD now go under.

DPA

Kohnen, Munich's Mayor Reiter, SPD leader Nahles

The blame has begun. Berlin blames Munich, Munich blames Berlin. There is also a taste of it in the Augustiner cellar. The SPD mayor of the city, Dieter Reiter, talks about his predecessor and SPD veteran Hans-Jochen Vogel. He misses the vehemence he sees with him among his Berlin colleagues. He wanted to be completely honest.

The mood among the campaigners, however, is perfect, says the parliamentary group leader, Markus Rinderspacher: "I hope there's something going on."

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Kohnen does not come from a classic working-class family, but from a household of 68. Her father was a director and lawyer, her childhood in the Munich Maxvorstadt was rich in political discussions and finger paints, she tells it in the election campaign. The parents divorced early, Kohnen grew up with the father and his second wife. She was a fan of Willy Brandt and took Kohnen as a teenager to the SPD.

In her life before politics, however, Kohnen was a biologist and school textbook lecturer. She had two children, lived in Paris and finally moved back to Munich. The scientist now relies above all on the polls, which say that almost half of Bavaria do not yet know how to vote on Sunday.

The SPD has no choice but to count the hours and hope for a miracle.