It was not until the third round of voting that Berlin's new Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) was elected on Thursday – it could hardly have been more obvious how much mistrust already prevails in the coalition. And how much desire for revenge. While the CDU and SPD were still blaming each other for the lack of votes in the first two rounds of voting, it was already clear to most observers what might have been the reason for so many dissenters, at least in the case of the SPD: the heartfelt desire to miss a lesson. Main addressee: Franziska Giffey.

Oliver Georgi

Editor in the politics department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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There was a time when this name sounded like a promise to Social Democrats. For a long time, Giffey was one of the few who was believed to have a future in the SPD. That is over, now her name is more of a synonym for many Berlin comrades for what can go wrong in their party. The fact that Giffey smiled away any criticism after her election defeat and helped the CDU, of all people, back into the Red City Hall instead of continuing the red-green-red coalition as Governing Mayor, upsets many beyond measure, especially on the left wing.

Others think Giffey should have resigned and the SPD should have gone into opposition instead of being a stirrup holder for the CDU. "The mood in the party is dramatically bad," admits a prominent Giffey opponent, "it's a ticking time bomb." Even if they speak differently in public: Behind closed doors, many Berlin comrades consider it very questionable that a Governing Mayor is not re-elected, does not draw any personal consequences and then becomes Senator for Economic Affairs under her opponent. "Actually, that's not acceptable," says a left-wing SPD woman.

The party is more divided than ever before

Berlin's SPD has never been easy, but now it is more divided than ever before. One, the more pragmatic half, is forced to come to terms with the grand coalition because, to paraphrase Franz Müntefering, they consider the opposition to be crap. The other, the more ideological half, sees the alliance with the CDU as a betrayal that they do not want to forgive Giffey and her co-chairman Raed Saleh. Even the coalition agreement was approved by only a very narrow majority in a membership decision. "This coalition is built on feet of clay," says a Groko critic. "At some point, there's a bang."

When and how it should bang, different ideas are circulating in the camp of Giffey's opponents, where the Berlin Jusos in particular are fueling the trench warfare. A widespread one is that if she does not want to draw any consequences from the election defeat, Giffey, together with Raed Saleh, should at least resign from the SPD state chairmanship or not run again in 2024 – if only to send a signal of humility.

It can no longer remain without consequences that the SPD has been governing for years with "continuous losses of votes," said Sawsan Chebli, former state secretary to Giffey's predecessor Michael Müller, last week. The "necessary rebuilding of the SPD" could not be done "on a part-time basis," so Giffey and Saleh would now have to "concentrate fully on government policy." Otherwise, Chebli warned, many SPD members could turn their backs on the party.