State coalition collapses as Germany heads into bumper election year

The coalition governing the north-eastern German state of Brandenburg collapsed on Tuesday, following internal bickering within the upstart BSW party.

State Premier Dietmar Woidke said the "foundation for cooperation" no longer existed after several BSW lawmakers quit the party, depriving the coalition led by his Social Democratic Party (SPD) of its majority. The coalition had been in office for just over a year.

Woidke ruled out early elections in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, and said he would continue to lead a minority government while seeking talks with the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).

The populist BSW party, which is often critical of NATO and seen as Russia-friendly, failed to pass the 5% threshold to gain seats in Germany's Bundestag during the latest federal election in February.

However, the party came in third in Brandenburg state elections in September 2024, leading to an unlikely alliance with the SPD, which has consistently backed military support for Ukraine.

The coalition took office in December 2024 following months of wrangling over a coalition deal, with only two seats securing their majority in the state parliament.

Signs of crisis began to emerge in November, when four lawmakers left the BSW citing "authoritarian tendencies" within the party.

Two of them later rejoined while the other two remained part of the parliamentary group, preserving the fragile majority.

But the end of the coalition was all but sealed on Monday when BSW Deputy State Premier Robert Crumbach left the party.

He has now joined the SPD parliamentary group, while the two renegade BSW lawmakers left the party's parliamentary group, meaning the coalition no longer has a majority.

Packed election calendar

The political turmoil comes as Germany prepares for a packed election calendar, with five of the country’s 16 states set to hold elections.

The developments in Brandenburg underscore the growing difficulty for Germany’s mainstream parties to forge stable governing alliances amid the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is expected to make further gains in 2026.

All major parties have ruled out cooperating with the AfD, leaving them increasingly reliant on fragile and fragmented coalitions such as the one that just fell apart in Brandenburg.

BSW tumult and identity shift

In the run-up to the collapse, state leader Woidke had repeatedly called on the BSW to resolve its internal disputes.

Late last year, the SPD demanded a formal pledge of loyalty from all 14 BSW lawmakers following a coalition dispute - a call that was rejected by the BSW party's leadership.

While the SPD and the CDU, who govern together at the federal level, did not have enough votes to forge a coalition following the 2024 state elections, Crumbach's decision to join the SPD parliamentary group would now give the two mainstream parties a razor-thin majority of one vote.

The AfD party, which came second in the state polls, has called for new elections.

The "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht" party was named after its founder Sahra Wagenknecht, a significant player in left-wing politics who set up the BSW in early 2024.

But following her resignation as party leader, delegates voted late last year to change its name to "Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft" (Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason). This allowed it to remove Wagenknecht's name without changing the party's initials.