New momentum for the Greens: Rudow and Freitag at the top!

New momentum for the Greens: Rudow and Freitag at the top!

A party conference of the Schleswig-Holstein Green Party took place in Neumünster on Saturday, at which new elections for the leadership team were on the agenda. Amid harmonious sounds and some singing, Lydia Rudow and Gazi Freitag were elected as the new chairmen. This election could prove crucial for the party's future in the state.

Lydia Rudow received 94 of 117 votes, 80 percent of the delegates, while 16 members voted against her. Gazi Freitag was confirmed in office with 89 votes and 76 percent. Rudow succeeds Anke Erdmann, who did not stand for re-election and emphasized cohesion and open discussions with political opponents in her farewell speech. She is married to Kiel Mayor Ulf Kampf, who will be running as the SPD's top candidate in the upcoming state elections against CDU Prime Minister Daniel Günther. In order to avoid an intra-family election campaign, Erdmann announced her withdrawal.

A new team for fresh impulses

The new chairman will be confronted with a variety of challenges. In recent years, Lydia Rudow has been primarily active as a teacher of geography and physics, but also has many years of experience in various positions with the Greens, including as state chairwoman of the Green Youth and as parliamentary group leader in the Kiel city council. Your colleague Freitag, who has been state chairman of the Northern Greens since 2022, is pursuing the goal of continuing to activate and strengthen the membership of the Greens, which has increased from 6,250 to over 8,500.

Freitag sees the party's success particularly in its grassroots work and wants politics to be understandable and accessible to everyone. “We want to strengthen people instead of lecturing them,” he emphasized in his inaugural speech. At a time when the political winds are getting rougher, the Green Party shows that it is willing to face the challenges and actively advocate for its concerns. Parliamentary group leader Lasse Petersdotter expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the federal election and described the political landscape as tumultuous.

Doomed to fail? Master challenges!

Discussions about urgent issues such as pensions, daycare centers and child protection are also on the party's agenda. The issue of defense is likely to be particularly controversial and will provoke different opinions. A joint application by the CDU, Greens, SPD and SSW to rename street names in Kiel shows that there are also points of cooperation, while the FDP is not involved.

At the national level, the Greens have long since consolidated their place in the political system. One of the successes of the past few years is the fact that at the end of 2022 they had government responsibility in more countries than the SPD and the Union. Nevertheless, they continue to face challenges due to harsh domestic political winds. It looks like they are well equipped to overcome current and future hurdles. By focusing on exchanges with citizens, they could give decisive impetus to their electorate, which is becoming increasingly diverse.

The Green Party's electorate has changed significantly in recent decades. Today, voters are predominantly well-educated and socially upscale, but the proportion of older voters remains small. A new generation is voting for the Greens not only because of political beliefs, but also for lifestyle reasons. This shows that the Green Party plays an important role in modern society and is on the right track to increasingly win over younger voters.

For the coming years, the combination of a fresh team and a strategic orientation that focuses on the members and the population could be crucial in order to further establish and make the Greens successful in Schleswig-Holstein. At a time when the political climate is becoming increasingly challenging, Rudow and Freitag have taken the necessary steps to keep the Greens on the road to success.

For further details about the elections and the background of the new chairmen, read more at n-tv and NDR. Information about the electorate and the election results of the Green Party can be found at Federal Agency for Civic Education.