Berlin getting first female mayor

Franziska Giffey is set to become the first female mayor of the German capital of Berlin, The Washington Post reported.

Giffey’s victory comes as the Christian Democrats Union (CDU), the party of current Chancellor Angela Merkel, was narrowly defeated by the center-left Social Democratic Party for the first time in ten years, according to the country’s preliminary election results. 

Merkel is set to step down after serving 16 years as Germany’s leader. 

Giffey is set to replace her fellow Social Democrat Michael Mueller, who is not seeking reelection after serving for seven years as Berlin’s mayor. 

Giffey said that she wants to focus on the city’s economy, education and sustainability as mayor. 

“We have made an unprecedented race to catch up. We did it together. the @spdde has received a clear government mandate in the federal government, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in Berlin,” Giffey said in a tweet on Monday. “Thank you very much!”

Wir haben eine beispiellose Aufholjagd hingelegt. Das haben wir gemeinsam geschafft. Die @spdde hat einen klaren Regierungsauftrag im Bund, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und in Berlin erhalten. Ich danke Euch sehr!

— Franziska Giffey (@FranziskaGiffey) September 27, 2021

Giffey resigned from her role as the country’s federal minister for family affairs in May amid allegations that she plagiarized her doctoral dissertation in 2010.

Berlin’s Free University, the school Giffey attended, conducted an investigation that found she didn’t correctly attribute information from authors she cited in her thesis and some content has been found in other work, the Post reported. 

In response, the university’s board of directors stripped Giffey of her doctorate title a month after the allegations surfaced. 

Giffey, who started in politics at the age of 29, previously worked as Neukölln District European commissioner and city councilor for education, schools, culture and sport, the Post noted.

Though Giffey is the first woman to be elected mayor of Berlin after the city was reunified, another woman, Louise Schroeder, served as mayor of West Berlin from 1949 to 1951.