Several SPD politicians are calling for a veto right for SPD membership in the event of a potential coalition with the CDU/CSU following the federal election.
Saxony-Anhalt’s SPD chair, Juliane Kleemann, told the Tagesspiegel (Friday edition), “The SPD only enters a coalition if its members more than half of them support it.” A coalition agreement, she said, “must be presented to all SPD members for review and voting. That is written in our bylaws.” Kleemann also warned about the CDU’s chancellor candidate, Friedrich Merz, saying, “Friedrich Merz polarizes and that will strongly occupy our people in a potential coalition question.”
Former SPD vice and current Bundestag member Ralf Stegner told the Tagesspiegel, “The mistrust of the SPD towards Friedrich Merz is greater than ever after the last weeks. If it comes to coalition negotiations, a member vote of the SPD will be the end result.” As of now, he can “hardly imagine a place for the SPD under a Chancellor Merz” Stegner said.
There is support for a member vote in different currents of the Social Democrats. The spokesperson for the pragmatic network in the SPD’s Bundestag faction, Dorothee Martin and the spokesperson of the left wing in the SPD, Erik von Malottki, demand a member vote after potential coalition negotiations.
“If the SPD is to aim for government participation, the members must in any case be involved in a decision of such gravity” Martin told the Tagesspiegel. “In the foreground, it is about getting a strong result for the SPD on Sunday.” This is “the basis on which coalition talks can even be spoken of.” The SPD Bundestag member von Malottki said to the Tagesspiegel, “It should naturally be a member decision in the event of a sought-after coalition. The involvement of the members is an important means of democratic co-determination for our members and has become a good and important tradition.”
The SPD had its members vote on the coalition agreements with the CDU/CSU under Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2013 and 2018. In 2013, 76 percent of the SPD members voted in favor and in 2018, 66 percent did. The member vote is enshrined in the SPD’s organisational statute, which states, “A member vote takes place if the party board decides with a three-quarters majority.