A former Governing Mayor retires: Michael Müller is out

It had been hinted at for weeks, but it was only on election night that it became clear: Michael Müller will soon no longer hold a political mandate. He had already had to give up his office, namely that of Governing Mayor of Berlin, in 2021. This means that the SPD politician was pushed into retirement with the new election of the German Bundestag. And at the age of 60.

Michael Müller received 23.7 percent of the direct votes in his constituency of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf . This was only enough for third place behind constituency winner Lukas Krieger from the CDU and Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus from the Greens.

Michael Müller won the most votes of all SPD members in Berlin

The result can be interpreted as follows: His party's national trend and its subsequent result in Berlin were too poor. With his 38,138 votes, Müller nevertheless achieved the best result of all Berlin SPD candidates - more than Helmut Kleebank from Spandau, who was the only Social Democrat to win a constituency.

And then there is the grossly negligent behavior of the Berlin SPD in the weeks before the election. They withdrew the last of their trust in Müller, did not give him a secure place on the state list and instead put people up who nobody knows - and who hardly anyone voted for. It was as if the party was sabotaging itself. And as if for many people, building their own networks was more important than the success of the party.

The aim of the personnel selection in Berlin was to express a clear and unambiguous left-wing profile. The election result is the receipt for this.

At the beginning of the year, Müller had already complained in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung that the strong people in the party had told him that he was "too old, too white and too right-wing". Now he says: "The personnel selection in Berlin was intended to express a clear and unambiguous left-wing profile. The election result is the receipt for this."

Michael Müller is “too old, too white and too right-wing” for the Berlin SPD

But all of this would only be part of the truth. The other part is that Müller was able to get almost 5,000 fewer votes this time than in 2021. Nevertheless, in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, Müller spoke of "a respectable result". There was probably not much more in it, the trend of the SPD was too weak, and it was not able to get off the ground either at the federal level or in Berlin.

Michael Müller is worried about his party, which has long had a massive personnel problem in the competition with its rivals. There is an urgent need for "people who can represent the issues credibly," says Müller: "How loud should the wake-up call for the SPD be?"