Germany: SPD to nominate Scholz as chancellor candidate
After two weeks of internal wrangling, Germany’s SPD is set to nominate incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the party’s lead candidate in February’s federal election.
After two weeks of internal wrangling, Germany’s SPD is set to nominate incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the party’s lead candidate in February’s federal election.
Scholz, who is Germany’s current chancellor, faces a tough fight for a second term after the collapse of his three-party coalition governmentImage: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance
Germany’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) are on Monday set to officially nominate Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the party’s lead candidate going into the snap federal election on February 23.
Scholz’s nomination comes after two weeks of tense discussions within the SPD as to whether to back the incumbent Chancellor for a second term or to rally behind Boris Pistorius instead.
Defense Minister Pistorius, currently Germany’s most popular politician according to the polls, last week announced he would not be running for chancellor and offered his support to Scholz. This paved the way for Scholz to be nominated as the SPD’s lead candidate, but he has poor public approval ratings.
Pistorius is one of the 33 senior SPD members who will officially vote for Scholz as the party’s chancellor candidate on Monday.
After the nomination, Scholz’s candidacy must then by officially confirmed at the party conference on January 11, a mere formality.
Germany’s governing coalition collapsed earlier in November when Chancellor Scholz dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP), the junior partner in the “traffic light” coalition which also
