New Brandenburg state parliament: SPD and AfD strong, BSW there for the first time!

New Brandenburg state parliament: SPD and AfD strong, BSW there for the first time!

On Thursday, just three and a half weeks after the most recent state election, the new Brandenburg state parliament will meet for its first session. The election led to some changes in the composition of Parliament. The original five factions have now become four. What is particularly notable is the strengthening of the SPD and the AfD, while the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) is now also represented in the state parliament. The CDU, on the other hand, has lost influence.

In contrast to the turbulent session of the Thuringian state parliament, which resulted in a power play, the President of the Brandenburg state parliament, Ulrike Liedtke, expects a calm session. “I expect a calm meeting,” she told the German Press Agency. The preparations for this constitutive meeting were thorough and well organized by the presidium and the state parliament administration.

A well-prepared state parliament

A central point of the meeting will be the election of the President of the State Parliament. According to the Brandenburg constitution, this procedure is clearly regulated, and Liedtke, the SPD MP, is seeking re-election. This clear regulation should help to avoid possible conflicts and unrest.

A comparison with the events in the Thuringian state parliament is obvious. There, the senior president of the AfD, Jürgen Treutler, stopped the representatives from speaking and blocked votes. Only a ruling by the constitutional judges made him follow the rules. In Brandenburg, however, the SPD has the strongest position, and the parameters for electing the president are fundamentally different, as the strongest faction does not automatically claim the presidency here.

The call for fairness in parliament

The meeting will be opened by senior president Reinhard Simon, who is a member of the BSW. He emphasized that a fair and respectful debate in parliament is necessary and spoke out against building a firewall against the AfD. This political strategy could prove tricky since the AfD has a third of the seats in the new state parliament. This would allow it to block crucial measures that require a two-thirds majority, particularly constitutional changes.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution views the AfD Brandenburg as a suspected right-wing extremist case, which is further fueling the political discussion about the party. The exact number of MPs who are classified as right-wing extremist is currently unclear.

In this context, the SPD parliamentary group would like, among other things, to nominate its MP Liedtke again as President of the State Parliament. Your choice is considered safe. But it's not just the presidency that is the topic of the meeting - the number of vice presidents will also be changed. For the future legislative period, the state parliament will have three vice presidents. This means that each of the four factions has the opportunity to present themselves at the top. So far, the vice presidents have only been from the ranks of the AfD and CDU.

The AfD is represented by Daniel Münschke, the BSW by Jouleen Gruhn and the CDU by Rainer Genilke. The latter is expected to remain in office as transport minister until a new government is elected. It is interesting to note that although the Thuringian state parliament also has three vice presidents, the AfD cannot fill any position.

All of these aspects make the first session of the new Brandenburg state parliament particularly interesting. With this structured approach and the focus on a calm and orderly session, the state parliament is likely to aim for a different course than in Thuringia. The hope in Potsdam is for a productive exchange that does not focus on political differences, but rather aims at constructive cooperation in order to jointly address the challenges of the coming legislative period.

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