SPD working group demands special party conference to replace co-chairs Bas and Klingbeil

Call for a special party conference

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Migration und Vielfalt (Working Group on Migration and Diversity) within the SPD has demanded an extraordinary party conference in autumn 2026 to elect new party leadership. Co-chairs Mehria Ashuftah, a member of the Hamburg state parliament, and Orkan Özdemir, who sits in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus, told Der Spiegel that there is massive irritation among the public regarding the Social Democrats. Voters no longer perceive the SPD as a political option, a trend the two describe as existential for the party. They called on the state associations and the party executive to initiate an extraordinary party conference in autumn 2026, arguing that it is now about saving social democracy rather than the fate of individual actors within the SPD.

Criticism of the dual-role leadership

At the center of the criticism is the dual role of SPD co-chairs Bärbel Bas, who also serves as Labor Minister, and Lars Klingbeil, who holds the positions of Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor alongside the party chairmanship. Ashuftah and Özdemir told Der Spiegel that the current leadership structure and the substantive direction of the party leadership have obviously failed, and that combining the party chair with a government post is no longer an option given the party's situation. The SPD sub-district of Bielefeld has openly called on Bas and Klingbeil to choose between the party chairmanship and their ministerial posts. Seven working groups from the Hesse SPD state association had previously written an open letter criticizing the party's reform course. According to Der Spiegel, discontent is also significant in the North Rhine-Westphalia state association, where many party members question the current leadership's direction.

Polling at new lows

As a coalition partner of the Union, the SPD has had the thankless task of selling cuts to the social state, contributing to its declining poll numbers. In the latest Infratest dimap survey, the party stands at 12% nationally, placing it three points behind the Greens. In Berlin, a Civey poll also puts the SPD at 12%. In Saxony-Anhalt, where a state election is scheduled within four weeks of August 10, the party sits only narrowly above the 5% threshold. Özdemir, who is campaigning for the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus election on September 20, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that he sees a party that is dying.

“I see a party that is dying. If no change comes, that is the end of the party.”

He said an open debate must take place at the special party conference about whether the government line is also the party line, adding that it is obviously not. The party leadership, he argued, must make way for an open competition decided by the membership base, a process that could culminate in a member survey.

Maier rejects the demand

Thuringia's SPD chairman Georg Maier, who also serves as the state's Interior Minister, rejected the call for a special party conference. Speaking to dpa in Erfurt, Maier described the debate as self-occupation and argued that the focus should be on upcoming state elections.

“We have important state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Anyone who is truly worried about the SPD should now roll up their sleeves and pitch in during the election campaign, instead of stirring up party conference debates.”

A special party conference can be convened either by the party executive or by the membership base, provided at least two-fifths of district boards support the move. It remains unclear whether more SPD politicians will join the call. A conceivable moment for a leadership change would be after the state elections in late September.