JOSÉ HENRIQUE MARIANTE
Olaf Scholz will be a candidate for re-election in Germany. After more than a week of speculation, Boris Pistorius, Defense Minister and potentially most likely to succeed, according to opinion polls, definitively ruled out the possibility of running in his boss’s place.
In a three-minute video published on Thursday night (21) by the SPD on social media, Pistorius declared that “Olaf Scholz is a strong prime minister and an excellent candidate for prime minister”.
The declaration and emphasis on repetition come after intense pressure from members of the Social Democratic party on its leaders, which fueled a public debate in Germany about the real chances of a second term for Scholz.
Opinion polls have, for months, given Pistorius the informal title of the country’s most popular politician. In a list of 20 potential candidates, the minister leads comfortably, and Scholz is only 19th. The performance also reflects voters’ discontent with the party. In terms of voting intentions, the Social Democrats gather just 16% of preferences, less than the conservatives of the CDU and the extreme right of the AfD.
For this reason, Friedrich Merz is the one leading the race in practice, since the vote in the German system goes to members of Parliament. With a projected majority, the CDU leader would reach the post. Increasing the SPD’s strength in the face of a necessary government coalition that the rival party will have to form was one of the alleged objectives of the bet on Pistorius.
The minister, despite his name making headlines in the newspapers for days, was always careful in his statements, praising his colleague’s work and saying he was confident in his candidacy. Analysts think that the attitude was poorly calculated and that he ended up losing the chance to establish himself in front of the party leadership.
“Olaf Scholz stands for reason and prudence, and this is particularly important in times like these, in times of global upheaval and dangerous, populist attacks on democracy around the world,” Pistorius said in his speech. “We have to put an end to this debate, because there is a lot at stake,” he said, referring to the controversy that has consumed the SPD since the implosion of the government coalition it led a few weeks ago.
Joe Weingarten, a member of parliament who had openly expressed his preference for Pistorius, regretted the decision. “Now the objective must be to work together and achieve the best possible electoral result for the party,” he said, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine.
Scholz submits to a vote of confidence on December 16. His likely defeat will be the formal trigger for the elections, already scheduled for February 23.
Germany is experiencing a period of economic stagnation, with needs ranging from infrastructure renewal to combating deindustrialization in the country. Immigration, war in Ukraine and the rise of the far right further complicate the scenario, favorable to the rise of populists.
