Fourth Woidke cabinet
Fourth Cabinet of Dietmar Woidke Woidke IV | |
|---|---|
 10th Cabinet of Brandenburg | |
| as of 11 December 2024 | |
 Dietmar Woidke at the 2017 SPD federal party conference | |
| Date formed | 11 December 2024 |
| People and organisations | |
| Minister-President | Dietmar Woidke (SPD) |
| Deputy | Robert Crumbach (Independent; BSW until January 2026) |
| No. of ministers | 10 |
| Member parties | Social Democratic Party Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (until January 2026) |
| Status in legislature | Minority |
| Opposition parties | Alternative for Germany Christian Democratic Union Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (from January 2026) |
| History | |
| Election | 2024 Brandenburg state election |
| Legislature term | 8th Landtag of Brandenburg |
| Predecessor | Third Woidke cabinet |
The fourth Woidke cabinet is the state government of Brandenburg formed on December 11, 2024. Incumbent SPD Minister President Dietmar Woidke led the coalition of his party and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).
This government ushered in the BSW as governing partner in any government in Germany for the first time as a so-called "red–purple coalition", two days ahead of BSW's entrance into the Voigt cabinet in Thuringia.[1]
Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet comprises ten ministers.[2] Among them seven are members of the SPD, two were from the BSW and one without party affiliation nominated by BSW.[3]
From November 2025 onwards, two BSW MPs resigned from their party[4] and then from their parliamentary group due to ‘authoritarian tendencies’ within BSW.[5]
On 6 January 2026, Woidke announced the end of cooperation with the BSW parliamentary group[6]
and the end of the coalition between SPD and BSW.[7]
The three ministers chosen by the BSW (Finance minister Robert Crumbach, Health minister Britta Müller (de) and Infrastructure minister Detlef Tabbert (de) announced that they were no longer BSW members.[8][9]
The three ministers remain (as of 9 January 2026) in office. Woidke's government continues as a minority government. As Crumbach and BSW-nominated Vice-President of the Landtag Jouleen Gruhn joined the SPD parliamentary group, an SPD-CDU coalition would now have a majority of seats in the Landtag of Brandenburg and is being pursued.[10]
Formation
While the SPD gained 7 seats at the 2024 Brandenburg state election, the previous government were no longer able to command a majority as its main governing partner in the third Woidke cabinet the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) lost three seats while the other partner, the Alliance 90/The Greens, failed to clear the 5% threshold and thus was completely shut out of the legislature. The composition of the Landtag is (as of 2024) as follows (showing only parties with seats before or after the election):
| Party | Leader | List | Direct | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party | Dietmar Woidke | 13 | 19 | 32 | |
| Alternative for Germany | Hans-Christoph Berndt | 5 | 25 | 30 | |
| Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance | Robert Crumbach | 14 | 0 | 14 | |
| Christian Democratic Union | Jan Redmann | 12 | 0 | 12 | |
With the Landtag consisting 88 seats, 45 votes in the state parliament is the smallest majority. The Landtag held two ballots on December 11, 2024, and confirmed its confidence in Minister President Woidke on the second ballot.
Balloting for to confirm the Minister President were as follows:
| Candidate | Position | 1st Ballot | 2nd Ballot | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dietmar Woidke (SPD) | For | 43 | 48.9% | 50 | 56.8% | |
| Against | 40 | 45.5% | 36 | 40.9% | ||
| Abstentions | 2 | 2.3% | 1 | 1.1% | ||
| Spoiled | 2 | 2.3% | ||||
The fourth Woidke cabinet was sworn in after Woidke received 50 out of 88 votes on the second ballot.
Cabinet
| Portfolio | Minister | Party | Term of Office | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | |||||
| Minister-President State Chancellor |
|
Dietmar Woidke | SPD | August 28, 2013 | incumbent | |
| Deputy Minister-President | Robert Crumbach | Independent (BSW until 6 January 2026) |
December 11, 2024 | incumbent | ||
| Finance and Europe | ||||||
| Interior and Communities | Katrin Lange (Minister for Finance and Europe in Woidke III) |
SPD | December 11, 2024 | May 16, 2025 | ||
| René Wilke | SPD (Independent until November 2025) |
May 22, 2025 | incumbent | |||
| Agriculture, Food, Environment and Consumer Protection | Hanka Mittelstädt | SPD | December 13, 2024 (acting prior : Katrin Lange) | incumbent | ||
| Education, Youth and Sports | Steffen Freiberg | SPD | April 17, 2023 Continued from Woidke III |
incumbent | ||
| Science, Research and Culture | Manja Schüle | SPD | November 20, 2019 Continued from Woidke III |
incumbent | ||
| Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Climate Protection | Daniel Keller | SPD | December 11, 2024 | incumbent | ||
| Justice and Digitalization | Benjamin Grimm | SPD | December 11, 2024 | incumbent | ||
| Health and Social Affairs | Britta Müller non-partisan (nominated by BSW) |
Independent (BSW from September 2025 until 6 January 2026) |
December 11, 2024 | incumbent | ||
| Infrastructure and Regional Planning | 
|
Detlef Tabbert | Independent (BSW until 6 January 2026) |
December 11, 2024 | incumbent | |
| Responsible for the State Chancellery | _(cropped).jpg)
|
Kathrin Schneider | SPD | November 20, 2019 Continued from Woidke III |
incumbent | |
References
- ^ "Die Rot-Lila-Personalien der neuen Landesregierung". www.rbb24.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-02.
- ^ "BSW übernimmt in Brandenburg drei Ministerien - SPD sechs". www.rbb24.de (in German). 2024-11-27. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
- ^ "Weg frei für Rot-Lila-Bündnis in Brandenburg". www.rbb24.de (in German). 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
- ^ de:André von Ossowski and de:Jouleen Gruhn
- ^ https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2025/11/bsw-brandenburg-landtag-landtagsabgeordnete-jouleen-gruhn-melanie-matzies-reinhard-simon-andre-von-ossowskib-bsw.html
- ^ https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2026-01/brandenburg-spd-bsw-koalition-bruch-dietmar-woidke-gxe
- ^ n-tv.de: Basis für Koalition ist nicht mehr gegeben, January 6, 2026
- ^ https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2026-01/bsw-brandenburg-austritt-minister-britta-mueller-detlef-tabbert-gxe
- ^ https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2026/01/minister-brandenburg-detlef-tabbert-britta-mueller-verlassen-bsw.html
- ^ "Koalitionskrise: Brandenburger CDU offen für Koalitionsgespräche" (in German). Tagesspiegel. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 8 January 2026.