Defence minister Boris Pistorious looks set to become the party’s most influential figure
Germany 's chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to lead the Social Democratic Party into a general election, most likely in February. Photograph: Daniel Ramalho/AFP via Getty Images’s defence minister Boris Pistorius gave it a go on Thursday evening. In a video address to Social Democratic Party supporters he pledged his full support to Germany ’s “outstanding” chancellor“I will not be standing as a candidate for the office of federal chancellor, this is ...
With an election anticipated in February, and the SPD flailing in third place in polls, idle talk of swapping out the SPD lead candidate became more insistent. Rather than simply say “no”, he hedged his bets, saying on Monday: “One should never rule something out definitively, because the world turns so quickly.”
“Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor,” insisted Pistorius in the video, “and he is the right candidate for chancellor.” They chose instead a little-known leadership duo who, two years later, asked Scholz to front their 2021 election campaign. Running a short winter campaign will be a challenge for all parties – but particularly for the SPD. They are likely to lose at least half their 207 seats based on current polls, losses compounded by new parliamentary rules requiring a 15 per cent cut in the number of seats in the next Bundestag.
They hope to highlight on the campaign trail, better than they manage in office, SPD achievements on more generous welfare and pensions. In a direct head-to-head poll of Germans’ preferred chancellor, they point out, Scholz is just five points behind Merz – and gaining ground.
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