BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats suffered a setback in a regional poll in Berlin on Sunday, falling behind the opposition conservatives in the capital for the first time in over two decades.

While the Berlin vote turned on local issues, the disappointing loss comes as Scholz faces widespread criticism for his hesitant military support for Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion last year.

In a court-ordered rerun of the election in 2021, the chancellor’s party slipped to their worst postwar result in the capital, where they have held the mayor’s office since 2001.

The Social Democrats received around 18 per cent of the vote, according to the first estimates from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, down from 21.4 per cent in 2021.

The conservative CDU, in opposition in the city and in the federal parliament, surged to around 28 per cent, up from 18 per cent.

Berlin, one of the country’s 16 federal states, was ordered by courts to return to the ballot boxes after the 2021 election was found not to meet basic democratic standards amid widespread voting issues.

The outcome of the rerun puts a question mark over the continuation of the coalition led by the Social Democrats and incumbent Mayor Franziska Giffey.

Her coalition partners struggled to make progress, with the Greens also falling slightly to around 18 per cent of the vote, while the Linke party recorded around 13 per cent.

Giffey and the Social Democrats seem to have been penalised by voters following violent scenes in the capital over the New Year, with revellers targeting the emergency services with fireworks in neighbourhoods with a large immigrant population.

The conservative opposition accused Berlin’s administration of failing to control the situation and sparked a debate over integration.

The election was also marked by discontent over rising rental prices in the capital and disputes over transport policy.

The result of the elections reflects the Social Democrats’ struggles nationally, as Scholz’s government — in power for just over a year — wrestles with inflation and the fallout of the war in Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023