In recent days, a growing number of rank-and-file SPD politicians called on party leaders to drop the unpopular Scholz and make Pistorius their top candidate. The SPD leadership, however, maintained steadfast support for Scholz — and worried that a prolonged debate would only further damage the party.
Pistorius addressed that concern in his video message.
“The discussions about the chancellor candidacy in recent weeks have caused increasing uncertainty in the SPD, and also, this is damaging my party, of which I have been a member for 48 years now,” Pistorius said. “I didn’t instigate it, I didn’t want it and I didn’t put myself forward for anything. We now have a joint responsibility to end this debate, because there is a lot at stake.”
The SPD is polling in the mid-teens following the collapse of Scholz’s center-left coalition earlier this month. Friedrich Merz’s opposition Christian Democrats lead on 33 percent, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party at 18 percent.
It’s unclear whether the end of speculation over a possible Pistorius candidacy will now help Scholz. The chancellor has been panned for weak leadership of his fractious “traffic light” coalition with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats. Abroad, meanwhile, he has failed in the eyes of many to keep his promise of a Zeitenwende — or historic turn — to a more assertive foreign and security policy following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He campaigned in the June European election by profiling himself as a Friedenskanzler (“chancellor of peace”) only to lose. Unfazed, he has been shaping to re-up that pitch in a snap election, expected to be held in February following a parliamentary vote of confidence that he is almost certain to lose in mid-December.
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