The SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia is preparing for more years in the opposition. Top man Thomas Kutschaty wants to continue to lead the group despite the election defeat.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – About a month after the heavy defeat in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the SPD is re-electing its parliamentary group leadership in the state parliament today (10 a.m.). The previous faction leader Thomas Kutschaty wants to stand for re-election. A counter-candidate was initially not known.
With Kutschaty as the top candidate, the NRW Social Democrats had their worst result in a state election in mid-May and slipped to 26.7 percent. The CDU was the clear winner with 35.7 percent. The Greens came to 18.2 percent.
The CDU and the Greens want to sign a coalition agreement by the end of June. According to plans by both parties, the incumbent Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) is to be re-elected in the state parliament on June 28th.
Kuchaty (54) is also the state party leader and deputy SPD federal chairman. After the defeat of the SPD in 2017 and the resignation of Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft, the former state justice minister fought his way up against internal party resistance. The fully qualified lawyer from Essen won the parliamentary group chairmanship in a vote in 2017 and won the power struggle for the party chairmanship in 2021.
The previous Parliamentary Secretary Sarah Philipp is also standing for re-election. The number of deputy group leaders is to be reduced from eight to five. The new SPD parliamentary group had shrunk by 13 to 56 MPs.
