BVV elections | AfD is now the strongest force in Marzahn-Hellersdorf

Marzahn-Hellersdorf deserves better than an AfD district mayor. Photo: dpa/Soeren Stache The elections to the district council assemblies (BVV) in Berlin could turn previously practiced habits upside down: If the AfD previously had the right to nominate a district councilor, he was not elected, with the exception of Treptow-Köpenick. The district office therefore had not six, but only five members. The work in the vacant department was divided among the other city councilors.

But in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, the AfD was by far the strongest faction in the Berlin election on September 20th. With 33.8 percent of the vote and 20 seats in the BVV, it leaves all other parties well behind. The AfD now has the right to propose not just one, but even three city councilors. Is it even practical not to elect them and give the others departments that are twice as large? The question is being discussed among the Democratic parties in the district, but there is no answer yet.

“The right to propose the next district mayor clearly lies with the AfD,” says its top candidate Michael Adam to the “Tagesspiegel”. Adam unsuccessfully ran for city council in more than 40 sessions during the last legislative session. Adam continued to tell the "Tagesspiegel": "We will hold talks with all political forces in the district about the formation of the new district office, who care about the future well-being of the people of Marzahn-Hellersdorf just as urgently as the AfD."

Mathematically, an AfD mayor would only have a majority if either the Left voted for him, which became the second strongest faction with twelve elected representatives, or the CDU, which had eleven elected representatives. The four mandates of the BSW would not be sufficient for this, only in the theoretically assumed case that the SPD, the Greens and the Animal Welfare Party would also support a majority of an AfD mayor.

The Left has gained votes again in its former stronghold after a lull and is the second strongest party and strongest of the democratic parties in the BVV. District chairman Kristian Ronneburg says: “We will now hold talks with all democratic parties to form a counting community, first with the CDU, which became the third strongest faction. After that we will know more.” The current left-wing faction leader Sarah Bigall is to become mayor. The goal is a reliable majority and the CDU is necessary for this, explains Ronneburg. The votes of the BSW, which will sit in the district parliament with four representatives, are not mathematically important. Ronneburg still wants to talk to them too.

»We will now hold talks with all democratic parties to form a counting community, first with the CDU. We’ll know more after that.”

According to Ronneburg, it has not yet been decided who the Left will apply for the second seat in the district office. »nd« learned from party circles that Ronneburg himself would be an option and would also be accepted within the party. However, since the Left also needs qualified personnel for a future state government and Ronneburg has made a name for himself as a traffic expert in the House of Representatives, this decision is open, it is said. It was not possible to find out whether the previous city councilor Juliane Witt would seek another term in office in the district office.

Pascal Grothe, who will be entering the House of Representatives for the Greens for the first time after a long time in the BVV, welcomes the fact that the Left now wants to form a counting community. “We want to bring in green issues.” On the one hand, it is clear to him that the Greens will not elect a person to the district office who is proposed by the AfD. On the other hand, the problem of how to organize a district office with only three people is a question “that we have to discuss.” Contrary to the Berlin-wide trend, the Greens made slight gains in votes in Marzahn-Hellersdorf.

The CDU is the crushing loser in the district. She loses eight of the 21 seats in the BVV and two of three seats in the district office. Of course, the CDU was hit by a cold wind from the Chancellery and the Berlin Senate. But that is only part of the truth. In recent years, the district association under Mario Czaja has been able to tell voters: We are different. We don't care about what party headquarters say, we care about the people in the neighborhood. She has opened her party offices to the many small problems of the residents.

“Kiezmacher” was the logo that the district CDU gave itself and which was often larger than the party name on its election posters. The Czaja CDU was successful with this for many years. And you have to give her credit for running a committed and expensive election campaign. The fact that it still lost many votes to the AfD, which hardly stood in front of the shopping centers, led to frustration and speechlessness within the party.

It is unlikely that the CDU district mayor Nadja Zivkovic will remain mayor. She left “nd”’s question as to whether she would run as a city councilor unanswered. Representatives of other parties with whom “nd” spoke but who did not want to be named expect that the CDU will delay the election of a new district office. For three reasons: First, she needs to lick her wounds. Secondly, she will probably wait and see what kind of state government is formed. Because both the election of a left-wing mayor and an AfD mayor in Marzahn would be disadvantageous for the CDU in terms of state politics.

And thirdly, a politician from another party, who did not want to be named, pointed out something piquant: Zivkovic will only have completed eight years of service in the district office in mid-December. This is how many years of service you need to be entitled to pension benefits. "I don't think the CDU will elect a district office beforehand and thereby risk Zivkovic leaving without any benefits," says the politician, who wishes to remain anonymous. This has not been confirmed.

“We lost this election very clearly,” says Gordon Lemm, district chairman of the SPD. "But we are not withdrawing." The SPD was only able to win four mandates in the BVV and will not be represented in the district office for the first time since 1990.

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