Dundorf

[TheNick]

Matthias Werner Becomes New DSDP Leader
April 5690

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Matthias Werner speaking at a DSDP event.

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Nicholas-Bauer-Haus, DSDP HQ, Dunburg - After the resignation of President Lorena Oberlitz as Federal Secretary of the DSDP, a necessary act in order to assume the role of President, the Party held a two-week long selection contest to elect its new Leader, a very important task as all parties prepare to contest the 2 November Federal Election to renew the composition of the Bundestag. The DSDP was re-energized after the Presidential victory last month, after the party obtained mediocre results in the past two legislative election cycles, the party had to find a new leader that could maintain that newfound energy going into November. They chose a young lawmaker for this role, Mr. Matthias Werner.

Matthias Werner is a young Member of the Bundestag mostly known for being the main sponsor of the direct election amendment and belongs to the most Progressive wing of the party. Other candidates were the former Justice Minister, Anna Leesdorf, an experienced politician (was Minister-President of Dunlake) and member of the more moderate wing of the party. She is nicknamed as "Oberlitz 2.0" given their similarities in biography and ideology. A third candidate was Jens Van Dijk, currently serving as Vice-President of the Bundestag and leader of the DSDP group in the Chamber. He has a lot of legislative experience and he noted that his Narik background could help the DSDP make gains among a ethnic group very important in Dundorf. This leadership race has been called by political observators as the "Competition of the Firsts", referring to the candidates' biographies: Werner is the first homosexual leader of the DSDP, while if Leesdorf had won she would have become the first Dundorfian-Yeudi leader and Van Dijk could have become the first Narik leader after centuries.

The selection contest went on as follows: first, the DSDP elected officials in the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) and Landtags (State Parliaments) across the country had to choose between the full list of candidates. The two top candidates then advanced to a public vote among DSDP members where the most voted candidate becomes Secretary. Van Dijk was particularly strong among DSDP Bundestag members, but was very weak among elected officials in the states. Werner had support from the Progressive members in both constituencies, also Leesdorf, thanks to her past as Minister-President of Dunlake and Federal Minister of Justice, was strong in both constituencies. In the first vote, Werner and Leesdorf advanced to the closed primary election, where every DSDP member could vote. Werner won that primary with close to 60% of the vote and assuming the party's lead, his first words were: 

Thank you, Social-Democrats! We made history today as you elected the first ever gay leader of this party! I would like to thank Mrs. Leesdorf and Mr. Van Dijk as they ran strong campaigns with wonderful ideas for our shared party. I can't wait to work with them when we win the election in November! Onwards to victory!

As a young, more ideological candidate, our pundits say that Mr. Werner is likely to energize the base and generate enthusiasm around the DSDP brand. But he must also remember that in order to become the first party of Dundorf again, he has to win over the key demographic of urban educated centrist voters, which in the last elections leaned towards the TLD, a party member of the current center-right cabinet coalition. "If he wins over them, the DSDP reclaims the Chancellorship", says political expert Heinz Wahl.

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Internal DSDP Election result:
Elected Officials vote (1st round):
- Anna Leesdorf: 108 (62 from Bundestag, 46 from Landtags)
- Matthias Werner: 98 (30 from Bundestag, 68 from Landtags)
- Jens Van Dijk: 88 (74 from Bundestag, 14 from Landtags)
Total: 284 members (156 from Bundestag, 128 from Landtags)

Closed Primary election (top two):
- Matthias Werner: 936.992 (59,8%)
- Anna Leesdorf: 629.013 (40,2%)

Registered DSDP members: 1.726.663
Turnout: 1.566.005 (90,7%)