Greens back talks in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, clearing way for leftist coalition
After the SPD and the Left, the Greens in Rostock also approved coalition talks. The state could get the first red-red-green government in its history.
Archive image · Photo: Wolfgang Pehlemann / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
The Greens in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania voted on Saturday at a small party convention in Rostock to open coalition negotiations with the Social Democrats and the Left Party. Talks can now begin as planned on Monday. The SPD leadership and the Left Party's state executive had already approved the move on Friday evening, the Left unanimously according to its state leader Hennis Herbst.
Together the three parties hold 39 of the 71 seats in the new state parliament. The far-right AfD finished first in the election but lacks a majority. The outgoing SPD-Left alliance no longer has enough seats to govern on its own. According to dpa, the parties agreed during exploratory talks on free daycare, keeping all hospital sites open and a parliamentary inquiry into far-right networks.
The new legislature convenes on Oct. 20. Under the state constitution, a premier must then be elected within four weeks. Any coalition agreement still needs approval from the three parties.