Is decades of SPD power about to collapse?: Woidke’s head-to-head race against the AfD begins

Is the SPD’s decades-long power collapsing?
Woidke’s head-to-head race against the AfD has begun

22.09.2024, 08:20

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A good two million Brandenburg residents can vote for their new state parliament today. The AfD will do nothing less than “destroy” the traffic light coalition at the federal level. If the party, which is suspected of being right-wing extremist, wins, long-time Prime Minister Woidke will resign.

In Brandenburg, voters are deciding today on the future balance of power in the state parliament. The polling stations open at 8 a.m. Around 2.1 million people in the eastern German state can take part. The main focus is on how well the AfD will do. In recent polls, the AfD was just ahead of the SPD, which has been the Prime Minister in Brandenburg since 1990. The AfD is considered a suspected right-wing extremist by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The last state election of the year is also seen as having national political significance. The AfD says it is hoping to “shatter” the traffic light coalition at the federal level with an election victory. The chancellor’s party, the SPD, on the other hand, hopes to defend its stronghold and thus stabilize itself.

In Brandenburg itself, Dietmar Woidke, who has been Prime Minister for eleven years, has his political future tied to the outcome of the election: the Social Democrat has announced that he will resign from his government office if the AfD comes in first. However, the AfD has little chance of governing itself.

CDU narrowly ahead of BSW

So far, Woidke’s SPD has formed a coalition with the CDU and the Greens. It is unclear what a government coalition might look like in the future. In recent polls, the CDU is in third place behind the AfD and SPD, just ahead of Sahra Wagenknecht’s coalition. The Greens, the Left, the Free Voters and the FDP are below the five percent mark. If a party wins a direct mandate, it will still have several representatives in the state parliament.

There are usually 88 seats up for grabs in the Potsdam state parliament. There are many overhang and compensatory mandates, which can amount to up to 110 seats.