New state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Schwerin votes according to plan

Around 30 citizens are standing in front of Schwerin Castle on Tuesday and bravely holding their signs in the air: They have a rainbow flag with them and their demands, including a ban on the AfD and a fairer education policy. They are wishes that they collected from citizens during “Klönschnack”. This was the name of the long tables that the civil society alliance “Moving Together” organized during the election campaign.

One of the organizers is Caroline Wölflinger from the Grandmas against the Right. Before the new state parliament is constituted this Tuesday, she wants to hand over the collected wishes of civil society to parliament, bound into a book. The SPD parliamentary group leader, Julian Barlen, comes briefly from the state parliament to receive it. Barlen thanks those involved, then he is interrupted. A man drives by in an SUV and shouts out the window: “Get the fuck out, you shitty left wing!”

On Tuesday, the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was constituted in Schwerin, and it reflects the polarization on the street and at the ballot box: the SPD, Greens and Left factions are opposed by a large block of the AfD faction. If the red-red-green coalition under Manuela Schwesig comes into being, as it looks like, there will no longer be any democratic opposition.

In the state elections at the end of September, the AfD more than doubled its result to 38 percent and now has 32 of the 71 representatives. You can see and smell your self-confidence in the state parliament. The AfD MPs sit with their legs apart in their rows, and the smell of too much men's perfume hangs in the hallways. Unlike in Magdeburg, the AfD is not allowed to sit in the middle of the plenary session in Schwerin, but even so the new majority situation is evident.

Almost half of the representatives are new to the state parliament. One of them is Tommy Thormann from the AfD, an ex-soldier. His suit is tight over his upper body; he is trained more for street fighting than for parliament. During the election campaign, Thormann said that Rügen would remain a “patriotic national territory” and threatened the left with a ban. He looks forward to “when the police ring your doorbell at 6 a.m. and get you out of bed.” Only six women are part of the new AfD parliamentary group. Before the state parliament session, people demanded the office of parliamentary speaker; as the largest party, they had a right to it.

The democratic parties, on the other hand, shrank in the election. The SPD still has 29 MPs, the Left and the Greens each have 5. The BSW and the Union narrowly failed to reach the five percent hurdle.

In the past, the constitution of a state parliament and the election of a parliamentary speaker was usually a formality. But what about Magdeburg? There, the AfD president of the state parliament received votes from democratic parties, presumably from the CDU.

In Schwerin, the representatives of the democratic parties remained stable. The AfD candidate Carlos Dias Rodrigues, a police officer from Bremerhaven, received only 31 votes, one vote fewer than the AfD has MPs. So you didn't even have your own people under control.

Birgit Hesse from the SPD, on the other hand, received 39 votes, which is as many as the SPD, Left and Greens have in common. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig, dressed in red from the blazer to the toe of her shoes, handed over flowers and hugged her comrade, and there was at least a handshake from AfD parliamentary group leader Enrico Schult. The flowers under his chair were already ready, but they were only intended for his own candidate. Perhaps some people in the AfD were still hoping for a surprise like in Magdeburg, but they were disappointed. The new President of the State Parliament, Birgit Hesse, thanked her for the trust, “I’m honored.”

The AfD also failed in the election of vice presidents, here too the majority was red-red-green. Simone Oldenburg was elected for the Left and Maya Tischler for the Greens. The highest office that an AfD MP was allowed to hold was not elected. It's the secretary's.

The biggest news from Schwerin was what should actually be self-evident: the democratic majority stands. There are advantages to not having a CDU sitting in the state parliament during a crisis of meaning.

The first session of the new state parliament also showed the disadvantages: If the SPD, the Left and the Greens form a coalition together and applaud each other, there is no democratic opposition. Controlling the future red-red-green coalition is likely to be complicated in the coming years.

This also became clear in the dispute over the rules of procedure. The Left, the SPD and the Greens had requested a change at the beginning of the meeting: in the future, committee chairs should be able to lose their office in the event of violations, and the rules for fines against members of parliament will also be tightened. The AfD considers this to be a curtailment of its opposition rights. “You are well on your way to committing treason against democracy,” said Thore Stein from the AfD during the debate. Stein spoke of “Mecklenburg and Pomerania” and left out the syllable “Vor-”.

Even if the AfD's criticism of the change in the rules of procedure is not correct - as the largest parliamentary group, it will continue to receive the longest speaking time and will not be disadvantaged: it was a bit of a disgrace how the factions of the future government were able to wave through their change without objection from a democratic party.

It is therefore possible that the CDU will still be missed in Schwerin in the coming years. The new state parliament president, Birgit Hesse, already seemed to suspect this. In her acceptance speech, she called the Union's failure to meet the five percent threshold a "breaking point" for the state parliament that she could not have imagined: "The Christian Democratic voice will be missing."