Germany Pistorius clears the way for Scholz's candidacy for chancellor

Following a controversial public debate within the SPD, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has cleared the way for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to run for chancellor again. He informed the party and parliamentary group leaders that he would not be available to stand as a candidate. "This is my sovereign, personal and entirely my own decision."

At the same time, Pistorius spoke out in favor of Scholz as candidate for chancellor. "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor and he is the right candidate for chancellor." He had 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. According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Scholz will be nominated at a meeting of the party executive on Monday.

The debate began with Mützenich and the "grumbling" in the party

After the break-up of the traffic light coalition, an increasingly loud debate had developed within the SPD as to whether it would not be better to enter the race with Pistorius. In view of his significantly higher popularity ratings and presumed better election chances, more and more SPD politicians at local, state and national level had openly spoken out in his favor.

The SPD leadership had backed Scholz, but initially refrained from nominating him as a candidate for chancellor after the decision to hold a new election on February 23. The public debate began with a statement by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich that there was "grumbling" in the party on the K issue.

Pistorius only wanted to rule out becoming pope

For days, Pistorius made no effort to stop it. On the contrary: "In politics, you should never rule out anything, no matter what it's about," said the SPD politician as recently as Monday at an event organized by the Bavarian media group in Passau. "The only thing I can definitely rule out is becoming Pope," he added with a wink. However, Pistorius then went on to say about running for chancellor: "It's not in my life plans and, to be honest, it doesn't have to be."

Scholz formulated his claim early on

Scholz himself had already declared his ambition in July, when the break-up of the traffic light coalition was still a long way off: "I will run for chancellor to become chancellor again," he said at the time. In the past few days, he has not repeated this so clearly - obviously to avoid giving the impression that he wants to be elected himself.

It is now assumed that the party executive committee with its 34 members will formally nominate Scholz. The next regular meeting is scheduled for next Monday at 11.30 am. This will be followed by a vote at the party conference on January 11. Normally this is a formality. However, the first official presentation of the candidate is to take place earlier: At an "election victory conference" on November 30 in Berlin.

SPD needs an extreme race to catch up for success

If Scholz wants to be re-elected, he will have 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 18 to 19 percent and far behind the CDU/CSU with chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU), which is polling between 32 and 34 percent.

Scholz recently recalled the 2021 federal election in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Two and a half months before the election, the SPD was also further behind the CDU/CSU - by up to 16 percentage points - until a laugh from CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in the flood zone turned the mood around. In the election, the Social Democrats then 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.

SDA