In Germany, the way is clear for Scholz in his party before the elections

Photo: John Macdougall Agence France-Presse Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Pierrick Yvon – Agence France-Presse in Berlin

Published yesterday at 7:51 p.m.

• Europe

The fire was smoldering, it is now out: Olaf Scholz finds himself alone in the running to lead the Social Democratic Party in the German legislative elections in February, after his only internal rival threw in the towel on Thursday evening.

The outgoing chancellor will nevertheless have a lot to do to succeed himself and avoid the electoral rout that the polls are promising him: the conservative opposition is given a clear lead with 33%, ahead of the extreme right at 19%, and the SPD at only 14%, at the same level as the environmentalists, according to a poll published Thursday for the ARD channel.

Given the state of public opinion, voices had been raised for more than a week within the Social Democratic Party to invite Olaf Scholz to step aside in favor of his Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, the most popular political figure in the country.

But on Thursday evening, this potential rival put an end to the debate.

“I am not available for the candidacy for the post of chancellor,” he declared in a video posted online by the party on YouTube, in which he expressed his support for its head of government.

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“We have in Olaf Scholz an excellent chancellor,” assured Boris Pistorius, 64, “he is the right candidate for the chancellery. »

Internal turmoil

He said he wanted to participate in the election campaign for “a strong social democracy, for our chancellor Olaf Scholz” and “put an end” to the debate over the best candidate.

These discussions have been the source of growing unrest within the SPD, threatening to tear it apart in the run-up to the legislative elections at the end of February, caused by the implosion of the government coalition in early November following the departure of the liberal FDP party due to disagreements over the policy to follow in the face of the economic crisis.

Some elected members of the party had come out of line in recent days to demand that Olaf Scholz no longer lead the SPD in the elections.

These discussions have “caused growing uncertainty in the SPD as well as irritations among voters”, Boris judged Pistorius.

“And I didn't start this debate, I didn't want to,” he said.

According to the ARD poll conducted by the Infratest Dimap institute just before the Defense Minister's announcement, 60% of Germans saw him as a good candidate for the SPD, compared to only 21% for Scholz.

Boris Pistorius, who describes himself as “a deeply loyal man,” had himself fueled speculation by refusing to rule out a candidacy in recent days.

“The only thing I can definitely rule out is becoming pope one day,” he joked on Monday evening.

Enough to weaken Olaf Scholz, who despite his unpopularity is convinced that he will lead his party to victory again on February 23.

Ukraine victim of the campaign ?

The Chancellor is now seeking his political salvation by presenting himself as a man of restraint in military support for Ukraine, in the hope of capitalizing on the pacifism that has been deeply rooted in German opinion since the horrors of the Nazis and a significant pro-Russian current of opinion.

61% of Germans thus support his decision not to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles with a range of several hundred kilometers, according to the ARD poll, in contradiction however with that taken by his main allies, now the United States, France and Great Britain, and supported by the German conservative opposition.

“This is something that citizens must think about in the upcoming elections, whether the course of determined support [for Ukraine] but also of caution, which is mine and that of the SPD, can be maintained or not,” he told the television channel Welt TV this week.

For the weekly Der Spiegel on Thursday the conclusion was clear: “The chancellor is letting Ukraine down” which “risks becoming the victim of the German election campaign. »

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