Around a year before the local elections, the SPD in Potsdam replaced the leadership of their city faction. After an internal election on Monday evening, this is no longer led by city councilors Hagen Wegewitz and Sarah Zalfen, but by their two previous deputies, Pete Heuer and Babette Reimers. This was confirmed by faction groups on Monday evening to the PNN. This ends a stalemate over the presidency that has been going on for about two weeks.
According to PNN information, the main reason for the so-to-speak deselection of the previous leadership is growing dissatisfaction with a course that was too uncritical towards Mayor Mike Schubert (SPD). An example: With its policy of cautious growth, certain building areas in the Pirschheide or on Heinrich-Mann-Allee were not developed with apartments or were developed too late – with the result that a municipal special building program now had to be stamped out of the ground, which in caused great displeasure in the affected districts.
In addition, their opponents of the previous chair Zalfen, who works as a consultant in the Ministry of Science, are said to have been too close to the Minister Manja Schüle (SPD) there. This allegedly made work in the group increasingly difficult. Other SPD circles, on the other hand, say that the change at the top is a male-dominated revolt against too much parity in the party and faction – fueled by power struggles before the local elections.
Officially, a statement from the parliamentary group in the evening said that Zalfen and Wegewitz had not returned as parliamentary group leaders, thank them for the work they had done.
Above all, the personnel Heuer is remarkable. The 55-year-old led the parliamentary group for a number of years until 1999 and has long been a critic of his party friend Schubert’s course. He is currently struggling with numerous difficult political construction sites – be it the bumpy search for a successor for Head of Education Noosha Aubel (independent), the austerity plan planned in view of tight budgets or the search for a compromise on the Garrison Church, which is about to fail.
The SPD wants to be more clearly recognizable with the new leadership and help reduce the damage to the party before the upcoming elections, faction circles said before the new elections. The faction officially announced that they wanted to act as a “stable anchor” in the red-green-red town hall cooperation. In the direction of Schubert, it was said: “At the same time, it is important to support the mayor.”
Heuer himself explained: “The function of SPD parliamentary group leader is not entirely new to me. With a broad group and many visible city councillors, I would like to continue the work of the past and pass on my experiences.” Reimers, in turn, explained: “I have set myself this task. The social-democratic signature in writing the history of the city can already be seen in many places. Our efforts are aimed at the well-being of people in a socially just and strong civil society.”
Pete Heuer is also currently Chair of the City Council. Whether he would stay that way was initially open on Monday evening. It was also initially unclear how Zalfen and Wegewitz want to deal with the situation. According to unconfirmed statements, both should remain in the city council.
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