The leadership of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party has sought to dismiss questions about his candidacy in next year’s national election after narrowly beating the far right in a regional vote.
Mr Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats defeated Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Sunday thanks to the popularity of governor Dietmar Woidke, who had trailed in polls and said that he would quit unless his party finished first.
Mr Woidke kept Mr Scholz and the unpopular national government out of his campaign, while the two other parties in Mr Scholz’s coalition in Berlin suffered extremely poor results.
The Social Democrats’ co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, took comfort from the outcome with regards to the national election due next September, although the party’s performances in the European Parliament election in June and in two state elections in eastern Germany on September 1 were dismal, and it is performing poorly in nationwide polls.
Mr Klingbeil said at a news conference: “I as party leader want to win the national parliamentary election – that is 12 months away, and we will fight together.
“Yesterday’s election gives us courage that we can do it, but of course I also know that the challenges and the questions we have to deal with at national level are far from dealt with as a result of yesterday evening.”
Mr Scholz has said that he will seek a second term.
Some lower-level party members have periodically questioned the wisdom of that and the Social Democrats have not yet made it official, but Mr Klingbeil reinforced the message that Mr Scholz’s candidacy is not in question.
“There is absolutely no wobbling,” he said. “In the leadership of the party, the parliamentary group, among the state governors and ministers, there is no discussion about this in any place.”
The mainstream centre-right Union bloc, which leads national polls, has already chosen Friedrich Merz as its candidate for chancellor in the national election.
