German lawmakers Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck were chosen as the new leaders of the Greens at the party's convention in the northern city of Hanover on Saturday.
The leadership vote took place as the party sought to replace co-chairs Cem Özdemir and Simone Peter.
Read more: Germany's Green party: How it evolved
Strong support
- Baerbock received nearly 65 percent of the vote compared to Lower Saxony parliamentary party leader Anja Piel's 34.8 percent.
- Habeck, the environment minister of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, received 83 percent of the vote.
Read more: Germany's Green party finds a haven in Heidelberg
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Romantic ruins
Destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, Heidelberg's Gothic and Renaissance style castle is a huge draw for tourists, including Mark Twain and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 3.8 million people visted the ruins of the royal residence in 2016.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
College town
Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest. The students make up over a quarter of the city's population of 156,000 people. According to a study by Germany's Die Welt newspaper, the Green party has the most voters with university degrees.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Prime real estate
According to that same study, along with the business-friendly Free Democrats, Green party voters are also the richest. Rental costs in Heidelberg far exceed the national average, and are even well above the average for the relatively wealthy state of Baden-Württemberg.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Young and green
Electric buses, cyclists, and young families - the average Green party voter is indistinguishable from the average Heidelberger. You'll find similar tableaus in nearby Green strongholds like Freiburg and Tübingen, similarly wealthy and well-educated college towns in Baden-Württemberg.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
An evening of art
Another typical sight in Heidelberg - an international art exhibition. Organized by Franziska Brantner, the Green party politician who represents Heidelberg in the Bundestag, the work showcases Iranian girls and their dreams for the future. "Comospolitan" is a word many Heidelbergers happily apply to their city, and foreign outreach programs are a mainstay of Green party politics.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Speed dating - the next Green generation
The next day, Brantner visited the Marie-Baum high school. Together with other politicians, she participated in a "speed dating" event to encourage young voters to question their would-be representatives about refugees, terrorism, and domestic policy.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Intensely oppositional
Members of the Campus Grüne brave the rain to deliver flyers. In keeping with the party's history as an oppositional force, this group refuses to align itself with the official Green party of Baden-Württemberg, because they do not agree with some of the policies the party has adopted now that heads the state government.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Conscious consumption
"Conscious" is how Christiane Link describes the customers at her highly successful artisanal organic bakery Mahlzahn. Founded in 1982 by three Green party-affiliated bakers, the bakery (and its three new branches) has stayed true to its roots as a collective dedicated to hand-made bread created on site. Any good Green supporter gets their organic, whole-wheat rye loaf at Mahlzahn.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
'World league' soccer
Heidelberg received high praise for its handling of the migration wave in 2015. Some 600 refugees arrived in the city at the height of the crisis. One integration project the city can be particularly proud of is the "Weltliga" football club. Hundreds of young men, like these two from Iraq and Syria, played against groups of locals - brought together by a common love of sport.
-
Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold
Forever Green
Heidelberg has long been a Green party stronghold. The famous political artist Klaus Stäck grew up here, and was undoubtedly influenced by its commitment to environmentalism. In this poster from the 1980s, found on the city's famous Philosopher's Way, Stäck chides capitalists to "go forth and subdue the earth."
Author: Elizabeth Schumacher
In their own words
Baerbock demanded "radicalism" from Green party members at the convention in order to do more in combating climate change.
Habeck said that under his tenure, it will be "our time" to advance the party's politics.
Read more: Germany's Greens look to future in opposition
Peter said on Friday that the Greens need to position themselves against a "conservative revolution" in upcoming regional elections. She also told DW she was ready to leave her position, "For a long time, I have been prepared for this coming to an end; so it's good."
Özdemir told party members that the Greens will remain a "center-left force" that takes its "responsibility seriously."
Should the ongoing grand coalition talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian parties and the Social Democrats fall apart, Greens parliamentary group co-leader Anton Hofreiter told DW that his party would be ready to step in. "If these coalition talks fail, the Greens are prepared to get involved, but it is highly unlikely the CDU and CSU will form a minority government with us," he said.
Cem Özdemir has served as co-chair since 2008
How did the Greens do in Germany's last elections? The Green party gained 8.9 percent of the vote in September's general election. The party was part of Merkel's attempt at forming a so-called Jamaica coalition government, along with the Free Democrats (FDP). However, talks collapsed when the FDP walked out.
What happens next? Baerbock and Habeck will lead the Green party as it positions itself as an opposition party in the Bundestag while trying to strengthen its position in regional legislatures.
What do party members think? Greens have high hopes for the new leadership duo. Parliamentarian Kerstin Andreae called Habeck a "highly unconventional, refreshing kind of character."
ls/sms (dpa, Reuters)
