The Berlin SPD has now officially chosen Franziska Giffey as the top candidate for the election to the House of Representatives in autumn.
At an online party conference on Saturday, 85.7 percent of the delegates voted for the 42-year-old Federal Minister for Family Affairs.
There were 210 votes in favor, 18 against and 17 abstentions.
The SPD state executive nominated Giffey in November, shortly after she was elected party leader.
Since then, she has been out and about a lot in the capital in election campaign mode.
Giffey was mayor of the Neukölln district of Berlin until she moved to the Federal Cabinet in 2018.
After the election on September 26th in the Berlin town hall, she wants to inherit Michael Müller (SPD), who is aiming for a Bundestag mandate.
However, the politician burdened the affair with possible plagiarism in her doctoral thesis.
Re-examination of the plagiarism allegations
The Free University of Berlin (FU) issued a reprimand in autumn 2019 for deficiencies in the work, but did not withdraw her doctorate.
After widespread criticism of its approach, the FU announced a renewed examination last year, which is still ongoing.
The complaint was withdrawn.
Giffey no longer holds a doctorate and made it clear a long time ago that even a possible withdrawal by the university would not change anything in her top candidacy for her.