SPD to hold congress to elect new leadership after Bas resigns — Anadolu Agency

Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) will hold a party congress in December or January, at which its entire leadership team will stand for election and the party will elect new leaders. The SPD executive committee unanimously backed the proposal following the immediate resignation of Bärbel Bas from her positions as minister of labour and social affairs and party co-chair, Anadolu Agency reports.

Executive committee decision

SPD co-chair and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said the congress should provide clarity on the composition of the party’s leadership and its political course. According to him, the executive committee unanimously supported holding the congress at the end of this year or the beginning of the next.

Bärbel Bas explained her resignation by the death of her stepdaughter and intensified public criticism, including within the government coalition. Klingbeil expressed regret over her decision and said he understood it from a personal perspective.

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Pressure after regional elections

Bas’s resignation came during negotiations between Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the SPD on social and labour reforms. Both coalition partners are losing support.

In elections in Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last month, both coalition forces suffered historic setbacks. The AfD won in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the Left Party came first in Berlin. For the first time in its history, the CDU failed to clear the five-percent threshold in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

According to the latest nationwide polls, the AfD has around 28–30% support, the CDU/CSU has 19–21%, and the SPD has about 13%. In the February 2025 Bundestag election, the CDU/CSU received 28.5%, the SPD 16.4%, and the AfD 20.8%.