Germany: Olaf Scholz to be nominated as SPD candidate

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will run for a second term in the federal election in the new year after his party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), confirmed that they will nominate him as their lead candidate on Monday.

"We want to go into the next election campaign with Olaf Scholz," the party's co-leader Lars Klingbeil said late on Thursday.

Pistorius withdraws

Scholz' nomination comes after Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, currently polling as Germany's most popular politician, informed the SPD leadership that he would not be running to be the party's chancellor candidate.

"This is entirely my own, personal decision," said Pistorius, calling on colleagues to put an end to their internal disagreements as to who should lead the SPD into the snap elections, called after the current coalition government collapsed earlier in November.

"I never started this debate, I never wanted it and I never brought myself into the conversation," said Pistorius. "It is now our joint responsibility to end this debate because there is a lot at stake."

Praising Scholz for steering a difficult coalition through what he called maybe the biggest crisis of recent decades, Pistorius said: "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor and the right candidate for chancellor. Olaf Scholz stands for reason and prudence."

Asked by public broadcaster ZDF about his superior poll ratings, Pistorius insisted that "other barometers are more important" because poll ratings are "also fleeting" and cannot necessarily "be translated into votes on ballot papers."

What's more, he said, stripping a sitting chancellor of the candidacy would be "a poor signal to send in these times," both at home and abroad.

SPD co-chair Saskia Esken welcomed Pistorius' withdrawal, calling the decision "self-assured and a huge show of solidarity with the SPD and Chancellor Scholz."

Speaking to the Rheinische Post newspaper on Thursday night, she added: "Boris Pistorius is an outstanding defense minister and we'll be fighting this election to ensure that he can continue to hold this position in the next government, too."

Scholz and SPD face uphill battle

What role the SPD will play in that government remains to be seen.

Recent polls put the center-left party on just 14-16%, far behind the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz at 32-24%, but also behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 18-19%.

Scholz recently questioned the "reliability" of the polls, reminding the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the SPD had also been lagging far behind the CDU two-and-a-half months before the 2021 election, before CDU candidate Armin Laschet was filmed laughing during a visit to the flood-hit Ahrtal region.

Back-handed compliments from rivals

Reactions to Scholz's impending repeat candidacy on Thursday night were not restricted to his own party, as political rivals also had their say.

"It's fine by me if Mr Scholz is the SPD's candidate for chancellor," said a sarcastic Christian Lindner, leader of the economically liberal Free Democrats and Germany's Finance Minister before his dismissal by Scholz earlier this month led to the coalition government's collapse.

"The people know what they're getting, and what not: economic change."

CDU parliamentary chief Thorsten Frei told Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper that, while Scholz may have won the SPD's internal power struggle, he emerges from it "catastrophically damaged."

"It's clear that large parts of the party don't want to follow Scholz and don't trust him to win the election," he added.

Alexander Dobrindt from the CSU, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, suggested that the SPD's internal debates are far from over, claiming that the decision to run with Scholz "was not shared by large parts of the party … but that's the SPD's problem, not ours."

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

mf/zc (dpa, Reuters)