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The Federal Minister of Family, Franziska Giffey, is the new president of the Berlin SPD. The leader of the parliamentary group in the House of Representatives, Raed Saleh, was elected the new co-chair. The SPD announced.
Consequently, a total of 265 valid votes were cast: Giffey received 237 votes and 182 of the delegates voted for Saleh. “Thank you so much for the tailwind, your trust, your support and solidarity,” Giffey told Wahl.
Giffey and Saleh were on a ballot. For the vote to be valid, the delegates had to elect at least one of them. According to the comrades in Berlin, this is also an explanation for the relatively good results of the two.
It is the first time in the history of the Berlin SPD that it is run by dual leadership, and Giffey is the first woman to assume leadership of the state party. The party’s former leader, Michael Müller, who is also the ruling mayor of a red-red-green alliance, did not appear again. He is running for the Bundestag next year.
Giffey announced at the online party conference that she wanted to run as the main candidate of the SPD for the elections to the Berlin House of Representatives in 2021. “I want to tell you also, if you want it, I will be ready to be your main candidate for the next year, “he said.
The leadership of the Berlin SPD had already agreed to the change at the top of the party at the beginning of the year. The background for this is the poor results of the SPD polls, in which it has long ceased to be the strongest party in the capital. However, due to the pandemic, the SPD had to postpone the new elections from May to October 31 and then to November.
Giffey, who was mayor of Berlin’s Neukölln district until her move to the federal cabinet, is considered the hope of the Berlin SPD. In his new role, he promised in a speech at the party congress on Friday night that he would “address it.” However, politics is currently highlighting the issue of possible plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.
The Free University of Berlin (FU) issued a reprimand in the fall of 2019 for shortcomings at work, but did not withdraw his PhD. After widespread criticism of this approach, the FU recently announced a new examination, which should be completed at the end of the winter semester conference period, that is, at the end of February. Giffey’s complaint was withdrawn. Under pressure, Giffey recently announced that he would be giving up his Ph.D.
In view of the corona pandemic, the Berlin SPD is holding its party congress, which started on Friday and continued on Saturday, mainly online. This applies to debates, speeches and substantive decisions. For ballots, during the course of the day, the entire meeting must be redefined, delegates then go to the SPD district offices to cast their ballots in a ballot box. The online match conference must be interrupted twice for this purpose.
