Consequences demanded in SPD: Giffey does not want to "carry on as before with the same people"

The sadness in the SPD is heavy. The party lost almost ten percentage points in the federal election compared to the previous one. Some Social Democrats are now calling for a "radical realignment" and personnel consequences, including former minister Giffey.

Franziska Giffey of the SPD, former Federal Minister for Family Affairs and Governing Mayor of Berlin, is calling for her party to review the federal election. "After the SPD's historically poor election result last Sunday, it is obvious that the party must draw conclusions from this," the politician told the "Tagesspiegel". This applies to the party's program, but also personally to the SPD federal leadership.

"In my view, simply continuing as before with the same people in charge cannot be the answer to the necessary question of renewal," Giffey said with her call for a change of personnel. "There are capable people in the party who could now take on more responsibility. This must be made possible."

Lars Klingbeil, SPD party chairman, spoke on election night of a necessary "generational change". However, he left himself out of the discussion, and Klingbeil declared that he would take over the chairmanship of the parliamentary group. "Our party base did not like the fact that the party chairman would fill a top position with himself at the moment of the bitterest defeat," said Falk Wagner, chairman of the SPD in Bremen, to the "Tagesspiegel". "The generational change announced by Lars Klingbeil is important, so it must mean much more than just one person," continued the Social Democrat from the north.

SPD board member Ibrahim Yetim told the newspaper that the SPD had "gotten such a beating that Esken and Klingbeil have to ask themselves whether they are the right leaders." He continued: "We are acting as if nothing happened on Sunday. We are counting on business as usual with the well-known people. That is not possible."

" SPD needs radical realignment"

"I cannot understand why the party leadership did not manage to persuade Olaf Scholz to step down," said Heiko Wittig, leader of the SPD parliamentary group in northern Saxony, criticizing the Social Democrats' plan. "The fact that the SPD went into the election campaign with the most unpopular chancellor in German history meant walking blindly into disaster." Wittig spoke out early on in favor of Boris Pistorius as a candidate for chancellor. However, he received "no support whatsoever, but rather severe criticism," he reported.

The Saxon now called on Saskia Esken to resign: She "does not appeal to the grassroots and should make way for Bärbel Bas as the new co-chair."

Gernot Schmidt, SPD district administrator of the Märkisch-Oderland district, told the newspaper: "The SPD needs a radical reorientation and a new start in terms of personnel in order to regain lost acceptance among the population. I do not see that with the current leadership, with the exception of Boris Pistorius."