Berlin’s SPD leaders announce resignation after suffering setbacks

After setbacks

Berlin’s SPD leaders announced their resignation

The heads of the Berlin SPD have announced their resignation. Previously they had to accept setbacks from their own party.

Berlin SPD chiefs Nicola Böcker-Giannini and Martin Hikel will step down at the end of this month. This was confirmed to the German Press Agency from party circles; “BZ” has reported previously.

Böcker-Giannini did not get a place on the 2026 DPR election list at the SPD district association election meeting in Reinickendorf on Saturday. He was defeated by an opposing candidate in the voting for a promising third place on the district list. However he was nominated as a direct candidate for Reinickendorf 3 constituency.

This is the second setback in a short time for Berlin’s SPD leadership. Two weeks ago there was a scandal surrounding co-chairman Martin Hikel in Neukölln. The district mayor was nominated for the position at the Neukölln SPD election meeting with only 68.5 percent.

He then surprisingly announced that he would no longer run in the 2026 election. He argued that the results did not give him enough encouragement for the election

Hikel and Böcker-Giannini have co-chaired the Berlin SPD since 2024. Ten months before the elections to the Berlin Chamber of Deputies and district parliaments on 20 September 2026, the Berlin SPD, which has been the CDU’s junior partner since 2023, is faced with political ruins. How exactly this will proceed remains unclear.

According to information from “BZ”, the main candidate Steffen Krach, who currently serves as regional president of the Hanover region, will become the new head of the party. He could be elected to the post at the party conference in March, where the Berlin SPD will actually want to decide on its election program.