After the SPD’s disappointing result in the Baden‑Württemberger state election, former parliamentarian Robin Mesarosch is openly castigating his own party. Speaking to the “Tagesspiegel”‘s Friday edition, he said that the recurring slogan “We must now be united” has long been misused to crush dissent. Other proposals are consistently dismissed as “divisive”, yet those who call for a united front are, in his view, the ones who turn silence into a vehicle for behind‑the‑scenes personnel deals. He contends that essential decisions are usually made by a small clique.
Mesarosch takes particular exception to the leadership of the state association. He described the Monday meeting after the election as “almost worse than the result itself” and sees the former general secretary Sascha Binder’s grip on the floor chair as a fatal signal. “It shows that some people simply didn’t understand what was going on” he warned. The personnel choice, he argued, reinforces a “harmful concentration of power” and stifles fresh voices.
He also accuses the SPD of systematically sidelining members. According to Mesarosch, competent local politicians suffer poorer prospects at the state level because the work consumes time that could be spent on broader policy. A handful of long‑time committee members, he said, dominate the agenda while keeping others out, thereby creating a system that systematically weeds out new talent. The party’s internal democracy, he added, no longer functions properly.
Additionally, Mesarosch denounced the SPD for its lack of strategy and planning. “The SPD has no strategy” he declared. Too often the party merely makes statements or announces goals without following through. “From the outside it appears as if politics is highly professional, but in reality it is not” he observed. The SPD, he added, neither experiments nor learns from mistakes and fails to implement policies. In some parts of Baden‑Württemberg the party is already dysfunctional. “If the downward spiral continues, there will soon be nothing left” he warned.