© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Social Democratic Party (SPD) election poster featuring top candidate Franziska Giffey for the upcoming Berlin state election in Berlin, Germany, January 6, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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By Riham Alkousa
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s conservative CDU party was heading for a clear victory in a new election in Berlin, dealing a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, who have ruled the city state for 22 years.
An exit poll by broadcaster ZDF on Sunday placed the Christian Democrats (CDU) with 28% of the vote, 10 percentage points higher than in the 2021 election, which a court declared invalid due to irregularities.
The Social Democrats, who have ruled the German capital in coalition with environmentalists Greens and the far-left Die Linke, got 18.2%. The Greens and Die Linke obtained 18.2% and 12.8% of the vote, respectively.
“Berlin chose change,” the CDU’s top candidate, Kai Wegner, said of the results, adding that there was a clear mandate for his party to form a state government.
Wegner invited both the Greens and the SPD to exploratory talks about the possibility of forming a new coalition.
Berlin’s left-wing mayor, Franziska Giffey, conceded electoral defeat but said the CDU would still need a stable majority to rule the city.
“We have to be very clear that this result first shows that Berliners are not satisfied with the way things are now. They wish things were different,” Giffey said.
Despite the CDU victory, the so-called red-green-red coalition, named after the party colours, still has a majority in the Berlin City House of Representatives.
Susanne Mertens, co-leader of the Greens in the state and the Greens’ main candidate, Bettina Jarasch, said the party would prefer to continue the coalition with the SPD and Die Linke.
“Our preference is the government alliance with red-red,” Mertens told Reuters. Talk of a possible two-way coalition with the CDU was met with boos in the Greens’ electoral party on Sunday.
But even if the Greens and SPD decide to continue with the current coalition, Giffey could lose his job to Jarasch, depending on which party comes second.
An ARD poll showed the Greens advancing with 18.5% and the SPD with 18.3%.
The rerun of the vote, ordered after the September 2021 election was marred by irregularities that included long lines and voters receiving the wrong ballots, is yet another item on the charge sheet for those who see Berlin as a disaster. sclerotic that belies Germany’s reputation for efficiency.
The German capital made headlines earlier this year after youth riots that broke out on New Year’s Eve reignited a debate over immigration and made safety in the city a top priority for Berliners, a central issue in the CDU election campaign.
The CDU hopes the victory in Berlin will wind its sails ahead of the October vote in the state of Hesse, home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, where one conservative prime minister risks losing office to another. Scholz’s ally.
The vote could also make life difficult for the SPD by depriving its federal coalition of more votes in the upper house of parliament.