Berlin: Parliament Could Make History With Left-Wing Politician

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Berlin: Parliament Could Make History With Left-Wing Politician.

On Thursday morning, the newly elected Berlin House of Representatives will hold its inaugural session. Almost six weeks after the election on September 20, parliament is meeting for the first time with its new lineup. rbb|24 will broadcast the session live via stream from 10 a.m.

The central issue is the election of the parliamentary presidency. The Left has nominated its long-serving deputy Hendrikje Klein for the position of parliament president. According to the report, Klein can expect broad support and is therefore likely to be elected.

Why the Largest Faction Is Sharing the Position

The right to nominate

The largest faction in the House of Representatives has the right to nominate the candidate for parliament president. With 45 seats, the Left is the largest faction in the new legislative period, which is why it has nominated Klein for the post.

The 46-year-old politician has represented the Left in the Berlin House of Representatives since 2016. She studied administrative science and is a trained diploma administrative specialist. During the previous legislative period, she worked, among other things, on the committee investigating the grant scandal.

On Tuesday, Klein introduced herself to the parliamentary groups. She announced that she wanted to give the debate plenty of room while also calling for a constructive tone. She also advocated opening parliament more to school classes and first-time voters. She said she wanted to take a firmer line against behavior that is not in keeping with parliamentary rules.

A Left-Wing Politician Would Hold the Office for the First Time

Hendrikje Klein

According to the report, Klein would be the first Left-wing politician to lead the Berlin House of Representatives. After Hanna-Renate Laurien, who held the office from 1991 to 1995, and Cornelia Seibeld, who served from 2023 to 2026, she would also be the third woman in the position.

The outgoing president, Seibeld, will remain in office for the inaugural session. She had already served as parliament president from 2023 to 2026. Klein’s nomination now begins the phase in which the new House of Representatives will elect its future president and her two deputies.

A Deadlock Looms Over the Vice Presidents

The CDU and AfD nominate their candidates

In addition to the parliament president, both vice presidents will be elected. The CDU and AfD are considered the second- and third-largest factions, respectively, and have therefore exercised their respective rights to nominate candidates.

The CDU has nominated Cornelia Seibeld, while the AfD has nominated Martin Trefzer. This means the AfD can, for the first time in Berlin, put forward a candidate for vice president of the House of Representatives.

However, the factions of the Left, CDU, Greens and SPD do not want to elect an AfD politician as vice president. The position could therefore initially remain vacant. This possibility is also the main point of dispute: the AfD wants the election result of September 20 to be reflected in the composition of the parliamentary presidency.

AfD parliamentary group leader Kristin Brinker articulated this demand on October 6, when Trefzer was nominated within the faction. The election of the second vice president is therefore expected to face a significantly greater degree of conflict than Klein’s nomination.

78-Year-Old Kurt Wansner Opens the Session

The oldest member

Traditionally, the inaugural session is presided over by the oldest member of parliament. In the new legislative period, that is 78-year-old CDU politician Kurt Wansner. He had already spoken at the start of the inaugural sessions in 2021 and 2023.

Wansner will therefore chair the first meeting, but will not automatically lead parliament throughout the entire five-year legislative period. His task is to preside over the inaugural session; the presidency will be elected by the deputies.

153 Deputies and Nearly 40 Percent Women

The new seat distribution

The House of Representatives has 153 members in the new, five-year legislative period. That is six fewer than in the previous legislative period. The Left holds 45 seats, followed by the CDU with 33, the AfD with 29, the Greens with 25 and the SPD with 21.

The Left faction initially has only 44 deputies present because one elected politician was unable to attend the faction’s inaugural session due to illness. Just under half of the deputies are new to parliament. Women account for around 38 percent of its members.

The decisive lines for the new legislative period will thus become visible on Thursday: according to the available information, Klein is expected to bring a Left-wing politician to the head of the House of Representatives for the first time. It remains unclear whether Martin Trefzer will actually be elected from the AfD’s slate or whether one of the two vice presidential positions will initially remain vacant.