Nominated as candidate for chancellor
Scholz: Want to be “at the forefront” in the election
Updated on November 25, 2024Reading time: 3 min.
The SPD has nominated its candidate for the federal election in February. Olaf Scholz is to lead the Social Democrats in the election campaign again. He is optimistic.
After last week’s controversial debate, the SPD board unanimously nominated Olaf Scholz as the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor on Monday. t-online learned this from participants during the meeting of the 33-member management committee in Berlin. The decision is to be confirmed at a party conference on January 11th.
Despite poor poll numbers for the SPD, Scholz is counting on victory in the early federal elections in February. What the SPD wants to achieve is pretty obvious, he said after his unanimous nomination as candidate for chancellor by his party’s executive board. “Just like last time (…) we want to be ahead and become the strongest party.
Pistorius decided not to run for office
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Scholz announced that the SPD would campaign for continued support for Ukraine, for the preservation of jobs, for good wages and for affordable energy prices. The future of pensions will also become an issue. ”The next federal election will decide whether there is a stable pension in Germany or not.”
In the past two weeks, the party had publicly discussed whether the much more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius should be substituted for Scholz, who was injured after the traffic lights went out. Last Thursday, Pistorius decided not to run for office, paving the way for Scholz’s nomination.
- You can read all the latest developments regarding the planned new elections in the news blog.
The deadlock on the K question continues to have an impact in the SPD. At the Federal Congress of the Young Socialists (Jusos), the youth association of the SPD, there was sharp criticism of the party leadership over the weekend. Juso boss Philipp Türmer accused party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil of leadership failure and spoke of a “shit show”. Scholz himself, on the other hand, is optimistic and wants to become the strongest force again with the SPD.
Party leader Saskia Esken admitted: “No, we didn’t give a really good impression when we nominated our candidate for chancellor.” Klingbeil defended the party leadership’s actions against it. “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.
At the same time, Klingbeil called on the party to now look ahead to the election on February 23rd.
After the nomination, Scholz’s candidacy for chancellor still has to be confirmed at the party conference on January 11th. This is considered a formality. However, Scholz has to be measured by his result from May 2021 – a good four months before the last federal election. At that time, Scholz was confirmed with 96.2 percent of the vote.
At that time, as today, the SPD was polling between 14 and 16 percent. Only a laugh from Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in the flood area brought about a turning point in the summer: the SPD became the strongest force with 25.7 percent.
The SPD is hoping that the challenger will make mistakes this time too. The party wants to focus the election campaign on the duel between Scholz and Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz. The Social Democrats accuse him of backward-looking politics and want to score points above all with Scholz’s government experience and certainty on issues.
However, when it comes to popularity ratings, the Chancellor continues to perform worse than Merz in the surveys. In the current ZDF political barometer he is in 7th place and Merz 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.
What are Olaf Scholz’s key priorities for the SPD in the upcoming federal elections?
Title: Olaf Scholz Nominated as SPD Candidate for Chancellor
Updated on November 25, 2024
Olaf Scholz has been nominated once again as the Social Democrats’ (SPD) candidate for Chancellor, leading the party into the upcoming federal elections in February 2025. Scholz remains optimistic despite challenges, including lukewarm poll numbers for the SPD.
The SPD board reached a unanimous decision to nominate Scholz following a contentious meeting last week. This decision is set to be officially ratified during a party conference scheduled for January 11, 2025.
In his first statements post-nomination, Scholz expressed his ambition to “be at the forefront” and aims for the SPD to emerge as the strongest party, seeking to build on their campaign from the previous elections. He underscored key issues like continued support for Ukraine, employment, fair wages, and reasonable energy prices while noting that the future of pensions will be a central topic in the upcoming campaign.
The path to nomination, however, faced scrutiny as there was speculation about substituting Scholz with the more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who ultimately decided not to run, clearing the way for Scholz’s reaffirmation.
Despite internal party tensions recently highlighted by criticisms from the youth wing, Scholz has stated his confidence in gaining public support and revitalizing the SPD’s standing ahead of the elections. Key figures within the party, such as party leader Saskia Esken, acknowledged past shortcomings in the nomination process but have urged members to focus on the challenges ahead.
Scholz’s candidacy will need to be confirmed in January, although this is expected to be a formality given the party’s support. The SPD aims to regain its footing and strengthen its position in the German political landscape as they approach the election date of February 23, 2025.