display

Change of power among the Social Democrats in the capital: Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey wants to run as the SPD's top candidate for the Berlin House of Representatives election in 2021.

She announced this on Saturday after her election as state chairman.

"I want to tell you too, if you want it, then I'm ready to be your top candidate for the next year," she said literally.

The SPD in Berlin had previously confirmed the new leadership duo at its online state party conference: From now on, the party will be headed by Giffey, 42, and parliamentary group leader Raed Seleh, 43.

display

A difficult task awaits both of them.

You have to lead the party that governs the capital together with the Left and the Greens to new strength.

265 valid votes were cast in each case;

Giffey received 237 votes, while 182 of the delegates voted for Saleh.

Giffey came to an approval of around 89 percent of the valid votes, Saleh to around 69 percent.

Plagiarism affair as a burden

The previous party leader Michael Müller, 55, who is also the governing mayor of a red-red-green alliance, did not run again.

He is running for the Bundestag next year.

The Berlin SPD leadership had already agreed on the change at the top of the party at the beginning of the year.

display

Giffey, who was mayor in Berlin's multicultural district of Neukölln until she moved to the federal cabinet, is considered a beacon of hope for the Berlin SPD.

She wanted to "tackle" in her new role, she promised in her speech on Friday evening at the party congress.

There is a lot of work ahead of her in the next ten months before the election of the House of Representatives.

Survey results attest the SPD in Berlin a persistent phase of weakness - and in the end Giffey was forced to give up her doctorate because of the reopening of her plagiarism affair.

But the affair should not be over with the renunciation of the title.

Because in August last year Giffey announced that she would resign from her ministerial office in the event that her doctorate was withdrawn.

While party friends stood behind her, the political competition demanded her resignation.

display

The Free University of Berlin now wants to decide whether to withdraw the doctorate by the end of February 2021.

“You can rely on me, no matter what happens, no matter what people say and mean,” Giffey said on Friday evening when she addressed the delegates of the state party.

The election campaign for the House of Representatives will be "not easy", it is now important to stick together.

“We have to be convinced of ourselves, we have to trust ourselves,” she said.