SPD clarifies K-question: Scholz instead of Pistorius
Published: Friday, Nov 22nd 2024, 04:10
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The SPD is starting the Bundestag election campaign from an extremely difficult starting position with Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the helm. Following the resignation of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the party executive wants to nominate the head of the failed "traffic light" government as its candidate for chancellor next Monday. According to the election polls, Scholz will have to make up around 15 to 20 percentage points on the CDU/CSU over the next three months in order to remain in office.
The party leadership's decision was preceded by a tough debate about Pistorius as a possible replacement candidate, who is by far the most popular politician in Germany in all polls. More and more SPD politicians at local, state and national level had openly spoken out in his favor in recent days.
The debate began with Mützenich's "grumbling"
Although the SPD leadership had backed Scholz early on, it initially refrained from nominating him as its candidate for chancellor after the decision to hold new elections on February 23. The public debate began with a statement by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich that there was "grumbling" in the party over the K question.
On Thursday evening, Pistorius then declared in a three-minute video distributed by the SPD that he would not be standing as a candidate, which he had never publicly claimed to do. "I have just informed our party and parliamentary group leadership that I am not available to run for the office of Federal Chancellor," he said. "This is my sovereign, personal and entirely my own decision."
Pistorius: "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor"
Pistorius spoke out in favor of going into the election with Scholz at the helm. "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor and he is the right candidate for chancellor." He has led a difficult coalition of three parties through perhaps the biggest crisis of recent decades. "Olaf Scholz stands for reason and prudence." This is particularly important in times of crisis like these.
Pistorius had initially let the debate in the SPD run its course over the past few days. "In politics, you should never rule anything out, no matter what it's about," he said on Monday. "The only thing I can definitely rule out is becoming pope."
The way is now clear for Scholz's nomination as candidate for chancellor. The 66-year-old Hamburg native already laid claim to this in July. "I will run to become chancellor again," he said at the time. In recent days, he has not repeated this so clearly - obviously to avoid giving the impression that he wants to run himself.
Party executive committee nominates Scholz on Monday
The nomination is to take place on Monday at the regular meeting of the party executive committee. The members of the executive committee met digitally on Thursday evening. At the same time, the SPD state premiers met with Scholz in the Lower Saxony state representation, followed by the party leadership.
"We want to go into the next election debate with Olaf Scholz," said party chairman Lars Klingbeil after the digital consultations. And he called on his party to rally behind the designated candidate for chancellor after the squabbles of the past few days. "Now it's about unity and a common path, and it's about fighting our way out of this situation together as the SPD."
First acid test for the designated candidate today
Following the nomination by the party executive committee with its 34 members, the party conference will vote on the candidate for chancellor on January 11. Normally, this is a formality. The first official presentation of the candidate is to take place earlier: at an "election victory conference" on November 30 in Berlin. Scholz is already completing a dress rehearsal for this today: he is appearing before local politicians at an SPD congress. Klingbeil is also expected there.
SPD needs an extreme race to catch up for success
Scholz must now switch into campaign mode very quickly. If he wants to be re-elected, he has to make an extreme race to catch up. In the polls, the SPD is currently polling between 14 and 16 percent, still behind the AfD with 17 to 19 percent and far behind the CDU/CSU with chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU), which is polling between 32 and 34 percent. In the latest ARD Deutschlandtrend, the Greens have now even caught up with the SPD.
Scholz recently reminded the Süddeutsche Zeitung of the 2021 Bundestag elections, ahead of which some thought the SPD was already in a hopeless position. "The reliability of such polls is manageable, as the last federal election showed, even if some people quickly forgot that." Two and a half months before the election, the SPD was also far behind the CDU/CSU - by up to 16 percentage points. But then Union chancellor candidate Armin Laschet had a laugh in the flood zone and the mood changed. In the end, the Social Democrats won 25.7 percent of the vote and Scholz became chancellor of the first "traffic light" coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP at federal level.
Four-way battle for the chancellorship
With the decision in favor of Scholz, the line-up of candidates for chancellor is now virtually complete. For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, there are four:
- In September, the CDU and CSU were the first parties to choose Friedrich Merz (CDU), head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, as their leading candidate for the election campaign in a surprisingly quiet move.
- The Greens put Robert Habeck (55) up for election last weekend. In the ARD Deutschlandtrend, the party promptly gained two percentage points and drew level with the SPD.
- For the first time, the AfD is entering the election campaign with a candidate for chancellor. Party leader Alice Weidel is to be nominated by the party executive on December 8.
Lindner: "People know what they are getting"
Former Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who was dismissed by Scholz, was one of the quickest to comment on the SPD's decision on the K question. "It's fine with me if Mr. Scholz is the SPD's candidate for chancellor. People will know what they are getting. And what they don't: #economic turnaround."
Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei (CDU) told the Berlin newspaper "Tagesspiegel" that Scholz had emerged from the power struggle as the winner, but "catastrophically damaged". "It has become clear that large parts of the party and the parliamentary group no longer want to follow Olaf Scholz and no longer trust him to win the election."
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