The absence of Olaf Scholz, mobilized by the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, seems to have loosened his tongue in Berlin. The chancellor candidacy of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the legislative elections of February 23, 2025 is the subject of growing debate in its party, and what a week ago was just background noise is becoming a topic of debate public less than a hundred days before the elections: the hypothesis of a candidacy of the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, for the chancellery, instead of that of Olaf Scholz, much less popular. In the SPD, the speeches are increasing, to the point that the three main leaders of the party – the co-presidents Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil, and the general secretary, Matthias Miersch – discussed the matter on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 19. after the chancellor flew to Germany, returning from the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Until now, the SPD leaders have refused to put the issue on the table, downplaying the doubts expressed internally and continuing to campaign for Olaf Scholz. On Monday, November 18, Saskia Esken, interviewed on the ARD channel, considered that this was not the case. “absolutely not necessary” to debate the candidacy of Boris Pistorius. Olaf Scholz is “ [leur] chancellor and [leur] candidate for chancellor”, he repeated, while he must be officially invested as a candidate on January 11, 2025, during a congress in Berlin.
But the unpopularity of the chancellor, whose coalition broke up on November 6 with the dismissal of the Finance Minister, the liberal democrat Christian Lindner (FDP), is raising increasing concern. Polls show that the conservatives of the CDU-CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, are in the lead, with around 32% of voting intentions, double that of the SPD.
“The base opposes the status quo”
In recent days, several SPD leaders have expressed reservations about the chancellor’s candidacy. The last, the former vice chancellor and former president of the party, Sigmar Gabriel. “The SPD base opposes maintaining the status quo with Chancellor Scholz every day. X wrote on Tuesday. What is needed now is courageous political leadership. If we allow this to happen, the SPD will drop below 15%! »
His voice was added to that of Franz Müntefering, also former president of the SPD and former vice-chancellor, for whom “The candidacy for chancellor is not a game in which two or more candidates agree at night while having a beer or having breakfast”as declared to TagesspiegelSunday, November 17, calling for a more democratic appointment process.
You have 47.29% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
