Setback for Chancellor Scholz’s SPD in repeat elections in Berlin

BERLIN (AA) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats suffered major losses on Sunday in repeat elections for the capital Berlin's House of Representatives.

The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which governed the state of Berlin since 2001, got its worst-ever result with just 18.7% of the vote, according to projections by public broadcaster ARD.

The opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) – the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down in December 2021 – won the largest share of the vote at 27.8%, up nearly 10 points from the September 2021 polls.

The Greens were projected to come in second with 18.8% of the vote, and the socialist Left Party (Die Linke) was seen winning 12.1% of the vote.

SPD General Secretary Kevin Kuhnert conceded defeat but underlined that the CDU could not win a clear majority to govern alone. He said it is still too early to talk about coalition scenarios.

Berlin, which is one of Germany’s 16 federal states, has been governed by a three-way coalition of the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Left Party since 2021.

The state's constitutional court ordered a rerun of the 2021 election last year, due to major flaws in the election preparations and chaos on polling day. Coronavirus restrictions and the Berlin Marathon taking place on the same day had led to numerous complaints from voters.