Stefan Gelbhaar is fighting for a comeback: the focus is on intrigue and accusations!

Stefan Gelbhaar is fighting for a comeback: the focus is on intrigue and accusations!

On Saturday, November 8th, 2025, Stefan Gelbhaar will apply at the district members' meeting in Pankow as a direct candidate for the House of Representatives election on September 20th, 2026. He is aiming for constituency 6, which achieved the best result for the Greens in Berlin in the last elections. The politician was already active in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.

However, Gelbhaar's political career fell into a serious crisis. At the beginning of the year, his party did not nominate him for the federal election after allegations of sexual harassment and an internal party intrigue against him became known. These incidents are considered the biggest scandal in the history of the Green Party. Although criminal allegations against Gelbhaar have collapsed, there are reports in the Berlin regional association of inappropriate behavior on his part that have not yet been clarified.

Political support and internal conflicts

The Pankow district association replaced Gelbhaar with Julia Schneider as its Bundestag candidate after she won the constituency in 2021. Gelbhaar, on the other hand, no longer had a mandate and ultimately lost the vote in January on the direct candidacy. In a text at a member meeting, the district association expressed the hope for a quick clarification and possible rehabilitation of Gelbhaar.

Andreas Otto, who has won the constituency since 2006, supports Gelbhaar and has announced that he will not run for the mandate again. In his statements, Otto emphasized the presumption of innocence, as the allegations against Gelbhaar, which were made in particular by a district politician under a false identity, were highly doubted. The case has already caused unrest in the election campaign and attracted the attention of the federal party, which threatened to expel him from the party.

Chaos in the election campaign

The situation is also complicated by the fact that the decision about direct candidacy is made not only by the local district groups, but by all of the approximately 2,500 members of the Pankow Green District Association. This could result in a tense climate within the Green party, particularly due to an earlier conflict with Klara Schedlich, against whom Gelbhaar successfully sued for harassment. Schedlich received prominent support from other party colleagues at the court hearing, which further reinforced the division within the Greens.

In summary, despite the turnaround in Gelbhaar's bid for the direct candidate position, the conscious and unconscious tensions within the party are likely to continue to influence the political climate in Pankow and the Greens' campaign strategy. The Green Party's ombudsman's office is currently examining the remaining allegations, the results of which are not yet public, which further increases the uncertainty.

The events surrounding Gelbhaar show how complex and vulnerable political careers can be, especially when they come under the shadow of serious allegations. It remains to be seen how the situation within the party will develop and whether Gelbhaar will have the opportunity to rehabilitate himself for his political future.