Despite poor poll ratings SPD executive nominates Olaf Scholz as candidate for chancellor

After a tough and controversial debate, the SPD executive has unanimously nominated Olaf Scholz as candidate for chancellor.

After a tough and controversial debate, the SPD executive unanimously nominated Olf Scholz as candidate for chancellor. Deutsche Presse-Agentur learned this from participants at the meeting of the 33-member leadership committee in Berlin.

The decision is to be confirmed at a party conference on January 11. Over the past two weeks, the Social Democrats had publicly discussed whether the much more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius should be substituted as a replacement candidate for Scholz, who has been battered by the failure of his "traffic light" government.

It was only last Thursday that Pistorius renounced his candidacy, paving the way for Scholz's nomination. In the SPD, however, the hang-up over the K-issue is still having an effect.

At the national congress of the Young Socialists (Juso), the SPD's youth organization, there was sharp criticism of the party leadership over the weekend. Juso leader Philipp Türmer accused party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil of leadership failure and spoke of a "shit show".

Esken: "We didn't present a really good picture"

Esken then conceded: "No, we didn't really present a good picture when nominating our candidate for chancellor." Klingbeil, on the other hand, defended the party leadership's approach. "My claim to leadership is that you listen to the party, that you hold debates, that you think in different scenarios," he said on Deutschlandfunk radio.

At the same time, Klingbeil called on the party to look ahead to the election on February 23. "Now it is everyone's duty to flip the switch and make sure we start the election campaign." Esken said on ZDF with a view to Scholz: "We are now going into this fight together with him."

96.2 percent as a benchmark

Following the nomination, Scholz's candidacy for chancellor must still be confirmed at the party conference on January 11. This is considered a formality. However, Scholz will have to be measured against his result from May 2021 - a good four months before the general election. Back then, Scholz was confirmed with 96.2 percent of the vote.

At that time, the SPD was polling between 14 and 16%, as it is today. It was not until the Union's candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, had a laugh in the flood zone that things turned around in the summer: The SPD still became the strongest force with 25.7 percent.

SPD wants duel between Scholz and Merz

The SPD is also hoping that its challenger will make mistakes this time. The party wants to focus the election campaign on the duel between Scholz and CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz. The Social Democrats accuse him of backward-looking policies and want to score points above all with Scholz's experience in government and ability to deal with issues.

In terms of popularity ratings, however, the Chancellor continues to fare worse than Merz in the polls. In the current ZDF Politbarometer, he is in 7th place and Merz is in 5th place. Pistorius is the undisputed number 1. However, the data was collected before the SPD's decision on the K question last Thursday.

At the same time, the SPD is hoping that Scholz will present himself differently in the election campaign as a head of government who strives for balance.

Alexander Schweitzer (SPD), Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate, said on the ARD program "Bericht aus Berlin" that the party now needs a combative and fighting Scholz. "The time of moderation in a difficult traffic light coalition is now over. Now we need a strong Olaf Scholz who also shows where he wants to take the country," emphasized Schweitzer.

Four candidates for chancellor for the first time

Scholz is the third candidate for chancellor put forward by his party for the election on February 23, following Merz and the Greens' Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck. On December 7, the executive committee of the right-wing populist AfD will then nominate party leader Alice Weidel as candidate for chancellor. This will be the first time there have been four candidates for chancellor in a federal election.