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secondErlin’s ruling mayor Michael Müller (SPD) had just wrapped up the press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and CSU head Markus Söder on the new crown measures when the news came that it should decide his political future. In a basic poll, members of the SPD Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district association voted for him as the constituency candidate for the 2021 federal elections. In the struggle for power within the party with his secretary of state, Sawsan Chebli, finally was in the lead.
About 2,500 Social Democrats were summoned to decide who would represent the SPD in the important district association in the federal elections in fall 2021: the ruling mayor, 55, or his challenger Chebli, 42. 59.2 percent of the members cast their vote. vote. . In the end, Müller clearly won with 804 to 553 votes. That’s 58.4 percent for Müller and 40.2 percent for Chebli.
“I am your candidate for the federal elections of 2021. Thank you for your trust,” Müller said after the results were announced. The member survey was a “good and intensive process” that strengthened the party’s internal democracy. “I am looking forward to the electoral campaign with you. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf has to go red again, that’s up to us. “
Chebli: “I already suffered some defeats and I got up”
The defeated Chebli thanked her supporters and congratulated Müller on his victory. “I will fully support Michael Müller for our district to be represented again by an SPD candidate directly elected to the Bundestag,” he tweeted. “I am disappointed, yes, but I already suffered some defeats and I got up. I fought and gave it my all and I’m proud of the result. “
For Müller, the current acting chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference, it had been an extremely stressful day until the news of the relief. He and his colleagues of the prime minister had fought with Merkel for hours over the crown’s new measures. The difficult decisions were “very difficult” for him, Müller told the news conference. But now it’s about saving human lives. At the same time, the outcome of the affiliation decision hung over him like a sword of Damocles. A negative vote from the comrades could have suddenly ended Müller’s political career. This victory should be even more important to him now.
The ruling mayor has a good reputation in City West. His head of the Senate Chancery, Christian Gaebler, led the SPD there for many years, while his head of planning, Robert Drewnicki, is the treasurer there. They had both been very committed to Müller’s candidacy. In addition, Müller, who is also a senator for science, was able to gain significant support from research and science. In an open letter, the three rectors of the universities Christian Thomsen (TU), Sabine Kunst (HU) and Norbert Palz (UdK), as well as the former head of Charité, Detlev Ganten, spoke in favor of Müller’s candidacy to the Bundestag .
It praises Berlin’s “committed and visionary university and scientific policy”. Müller made a decisive contribution to this development and only made it possible thanks to his expert support. “It would be highly expected that this experience and this commitment could be effective in the Bundestag in the future.” In his candidate letter, Müller also emphasized the importance of Berlin as a place for science. There he also put all his weight in the balance as mayor governor, senator of science and interim president of the Round of Prime Ministers.
In it, Müller tried to downplay the fact that Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is not his home district. “It is not the neighborhood in which I live, but it does not matter where a person was born or raised,” wrote the ruler. “The decisive factor is that I feel at home here, that the district is enthusiastic and that I would like to represent the interests of the district in the Bundestag with passion.” Müller has his personal and political home in Tempelhof-Schöneberg, but the ex-Juso had already met there. -Chef Kevin Kühnert made Müller’s candidacy to the Bundestag broad and frustrated.
Chebli was accused of lack of humility
Sawsan Chebli, on the other hand, had claimed his hometown of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf for himself at an early stage and after Müller’s candidacy he also threw his hat openly into the ring. She was not interested in the fact that part of the party establishment accused her of a lack of humility and, above all, a lack of gratitude towards her boss and sponsor. “What I criticize as ungrateful is seen as a natural claim to power by men,” he said recently in an interview with WELT. “Making way was definitely not an option for me. There can and should also be democratic competition within a party. “
Ultimately, the question is who can get the CDU to win back the electorate, Chebli continued. Who is most likely to convince? Who defends the game? I am sure: I can lead the fight for the constituency in a convincing way ”. In the end, the members, who were able to cast their votes from October 16 to 27, disagreed.
For Müller, the narrow victory is existential for his political career. Because without a direct mandate he would have been denied a place on the state list. With the Social Democrats, it is only open to candidates who also have their own constituency. The vote of the City-West comrades for Müller was correspondingly fateful. In the last general election, however, the constituency went to the CDU. Therefore, Müller also needs protection on the state list. He claims the first place for himself. But that’s also what self-assured Kühnert strives for. The decision will be made at a party conference on December 19. There, the federal Minister of the Family, Franziska Giffey, should also be chosen as the main candidate for the election of the House of Representatives, if the party congress can take place because of the crown.
The Social Democrats want to hang on to the organization of their state party conference this Saturday, which has already been postponed due to the Crown, in what form, but must first discuss this with the state executive, Müller announced Wednesday night. This is where the changing of the guard, which had already been agreed before the start of the pandemic, should finally take place: the handover of the state presidency to Giffey and the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Raed Saleh. The prospect of a Bundestag term was part of the deal that was supposed to induce Müller to withdraw from state politics. Had the deal flopped, it would have been a great false start for the new management duo, especially as many observers hadn’t ruled out that Müller had written it off entirely out of frustration.
The tension had been clearly evident in him recently. At the Senate press conference last week, for example, when Müller remarked in exasperation at the exhausting attack on Berlin in the Corona affair: “We are not the only stupid here in Berlin. And I don’t let them insult me anymore ”. The encouragement of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf comrades should have done him good.
It won’t be easy for the new SPD leadership duo
On Saturday, Müller will give his farewell speech as state president of the Berlin SPD. He may not even experience the freestyle of his successors live, because at lunch time Müller has to depart for Berlin’s most famous former landmark, the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. There were times when hardly anyone believed in the success of the project. But with the new airport manager, Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, appointed by Müller, the airport has already been completed. It will be inaugurated in a very modest way on Saturday.
Right now, at the Neukölln “Estrel” hotel, it will be a question of whether the new duo of SPD leaders will manage to unite the Berlin Social Democrats behind them. That shouldn’t be easy, because unlike the chronic left-wing Berlin Social Democrats, Giffey and Saleh are in favor of an intermediate course, even of law and order.
In an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”, they last described their course. Giffey announced an “ideology-free policy for the middle of society” with a focus on construction and transportation, education and science, economics and labor, functional administration, security and order: “We are developing a pragmatic and citizen-oriented program. ” This also includes a new concept of social democratic security: “We create security for those who cannot afford it.”
