For FOCUS online editor-in-chief Florian Festl and FOCUS online chief correspondent Ulrich Reitz it is clear: Even in its former stronghold, the SPD is no longer untouchable.

Festl speaks of a historic failure: Reiter “lost an election that you can’t possibly lose.” Munich has been characterized by social democracy for decades, “that extends well into the 1980s.” The crash is all the more serious because he actually has high personal popularity ratings.

SPD loses its stronghold

Reitz calls the result a political earthquake: “The SPD can’t even do big cities anymore.” He points to the dimension: “The SPD ruled Munich for a whopping 70 years.” This dominance has only been briefly broken once since 1948.

The fact that this bastion falls is a “shell defeat”, also in the context of the weak results in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. His conclusion: “A pitch-black evening and pitch-black weeks for the SPD.”

Festl says: “That shows: you may be too close to the world of big-headed people.” And not enough among the citizens. That’s exactly what politics is about.

Generational change in Munich

At the same time, the election marks a change. Reitz speaks of a “generational change in Bavaria’s capital”: a 67-year-old is being replaced by a 35-year-old Green.

For Festl and Reitz, one thing is clear: the Munich election is not an isolated case, but rather another signal of the SPD’s deep decline.