Greens in Baden-Württemberg elect new joint leadership in Offenburg
At the two-day state party conference, Clara Wellhäußer and Özdemir confidant Jan-Lukas Schmitt are standing for election. The outgoing state chairs are not running again.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
The Greens in Baden-Württemberg are choosing a new party leadership this weekend at a two-day state party conference in Offenburg. The outgoing state chairs Lena Schwelling and Pascal Haggenmüller, who have led the party since 2021, are not standing again. On Instagram, Schwelling pointed to “almost five intense years as a professional politician”. Haggenmüller entered the state parliament via the party list, and the party statutes separate party office and parliamentary seat.
Running to succeed them are 27-year-old lawyer Clara Wellhäußer, a Freiburg city councillor from the party's left wing, and 31-year-old Jan-Lukas Schmitt from the moderate “Realo” wing. Schmitt is regarded as a close confidant of Premier Cem Özdemir and most recently ran his election campaign. According to dpa, there were initially no other candidates.
Wellhäußer wants to make it easier for women to enter councils, party offices and parliaments and to simplify structures for the roughly 25,000 members. Schmitt wants to strengthen cooperation with other state branches and the federal party. “I think a bit more south-western green can also convince at federal level,” he said.