Berlin SPD chairman and Neukölln district mayor, Martin Hikel, has expressed confidence that his party will nominate Steffen Krach as the main candidate for the September 2026 elections on Saturday. Things work differently in the SPD state than in disputed Neukölln SPD. “I think tomorrow’s party conference will be a pretty good party conference,” Hikel told RBB Radio Eins station.
Different from district associations Neukölln The SPD in the regional association succeeded in discussing substantive topics constructively and achieving joint results through “a quite interesting and good discussion process,” said Hikel. “We were able to translate the theme of trains moving towards each other in another place: the trains may have rolled towards each other, but we were able to determine their paths and then develop in the same direction.”
Regarding his district, Hikel emphasized: “And that is why tomorrow will be very different than in Neukölln SPD last Saturday.” In Neukölln, Hikel does not want to run again for mayor as he received only 68.5 percent of the vote when selected as the top candidate a week ago. Behind this were internal differences: especially the left-wing Social Democratic Party which refused to vote for him.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251114-930-291806/1
