Party executive and headquarters
The co-chairs lead the party executive (Parteivorstand) and the Willy-Brandt-Haus headquarters, set campaign strategy and are responsible for the party’s finances and organisation.
Party · SPD Federal Chairwoman since 27 June 2025
Leading the party in government
Since June 2025 Bärbel Bas has led the Social Democratic Party of Germany together with Lars Klingbeil. Both are also senior members of the federal cabinet — a combination that gives the SPD’s leadership unusual weight in government and unusual exposure when the party struggles.
§ 01Election
Party congress, Berlin, 27 June 2025
95.0%Bärbel Basdelegate vote for co-chair
64.9%Lars Klingbeildelegate vote for co-chair
16.4%SPD result, federal election of 23 Feb 2025the context of the leadership change
The SPD’s result in the February 2025 federal election was its weakest in the history of the Federal Republic. The party nevertheless entered government as junior partner of CDU/CSU under Friedrich Merz. Co-chair Saskia Esken did not stand again; Lars Klingbeil, who had become Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister, sought re-election; and the party executive proposed Bas, by then Labour Minister, as his co-chair.1
The contrast between the two results — 95.0 per cent for Bas, 64.9 per cent for Klingbeil — was widely read as delegates holding Klingbeil responsible for the election defeat while endorsing Bas’s profile. In her candidacy speech she placed inequality at the centre: “Unser Problem ist der wachsende Unterschied zwischen oben und unten und Arm und Reich. Da müssen wir ran!”1
“Our problem is the growing gap between top and bottom, rich and poor. We have to tackle that!”
§ 02The role
What a party chair does
German party law gives party organisations a central constitutional role in forming political will. The chairs lead the party executive, represent the party publicly and coordinate between party, parliamentary group and government.
Two hats
With both chairs in the cabinet, coalition compromises are negotiated by the same people who must defend them to the party. Supporters see coherence; critics see a leadership with too little distance from government.
Members, congresses, petitions
SPD members can initiate member petitions (Mitgliederbegehren). A Juso-led petition against the basic income support reform was launched in late 2025 — a direct challenge to Bas’s own ministry.
The labour movement
The SPD was founded in the 19th-century labour movement. Bas’s background in works councils and social insurance connects to that tradition more directly than most of her recent predecessors.
Cities and Länder
The SPD’s strength lies increasingly in municipal government and in the Länder it leads. Her own base is a Ruhr city whose council and mayor have long been Social Democratic.
Social policy as identity
Pensions, wages, Tariftreue and the defence of the welfare state are the themes on which the party leadership has sought to distinguish the SPD within the coalition.
§ 03 · 2026
Pressure after the state elections
After the SPD’s losses in the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg in March 2026, both co-chairs faced public calls from parts of the party to resign; the SPD in Frankfurt and the party’s working group on migration and diversity called for a special party congress.23 As of October 2026 no special congress has been convened, and both remain in office.
This archive does not speculate on internal party disputes beyond what has been publicly documented.
Sources
- ZDFheute, “SPD-Parteitag: Bas und Klingbeil gewählt”, 27 June 2025. zdfheute.de
- t-online, calls for resignation of Bas and Klingbeil, 23 Mar 2026. t-online.de
- Tagesspiegel, “SPD Frankfurt will Bas und Klingbeil loswerden”, 2026. tagesspiegel.de
- Federal Government, cabinet member profile: Bärbel Bas. bundesregierung.de