Germany's oldest party, the center-left SPD, is in a difficult position following its success in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election

Following state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin , two of Germany's 16 federal states, the mood within the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) is oscillating between relief and frustration, confidence and bewilderment.

"The SPD is clearly capable of winning more than 30% of the vote," party co-leader Lars Klingbeil said jubilantly in Berlin. "This result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is an encouragement for the entire Social Democratic movement."

As Klingbeil put it, Manuela Schwesig , the SPD state premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and her party had shown "how to make up ground, how to fight, and how, with the right issues and the right approach, to stage a comeback and ultimately win people over through that effort."

What Klingbeil conveniently omits is that Schwesig's success was also because she distanced herself as much as possible from the federal government's policies, and by extension from the SPD at the national level, which it governs in coalition with the center-right CDU/CSU alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union under Chancellor Friedrich Merz .

Meanwhile, the national government has become more unpopular than any of its predecessors.

本文の著作権はDeutsche Welleにあります。