Leadership of German Greens resigns after drubbing in state elections

The German Green Party's co-leaders, Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour, announced on Wednesday that the entire party executive is resigning in November following a string of poor results in regional elections.

At the national level, the Greens are currently the second-largest party in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government, which has been beset by bitter infighting and has slumped badly in opinion polls.

Among the most recent and bitter disappointments for the Greens was Sunday's election in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, when the Greens lost all seats in the state parliament after falling short of the 5% threshold needed to take seats in German elections.

The Greens are part of the incumbent coalition government in Brandenburg but got just 4.1% on Sunday, a steep decline from the 10.7% the party received in the previous state election in 2019.

Elections on September 1 also saw the Greens lose ground in the German states of Thuringia and Saxony. The Greens will not hold any seats in Thuringia after the election, and barely cleared the 5% threshold in Saxony.