BERLIN听–听German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats聽(厂笔顿)听staved off the far-right in a聽聽on Sunday,聽likely providing him only a brief reprieve from growing criticism of his leadership within his own party.
The center-left SPD staged a last minute comeback in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where they have ruled since reunification in 1990 and Mr. Scholz has his own constituency, to win the election on 30.9% of the vote.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had topped polls for the past two years in the state, won聽29.2%, according to provisional official results by the State Electoral Commissioner.
Still the AfD was up 5.7 percentage points since the last Brandenburg election five years ago, after it earlier this month became the聽聽party to win a state election in Germany since World War Two.
罢丑别听AfD party continues to gain momentum聽as it capitalizes on worries about a cost-of-living crisis in Europe’s largest economy, irregular immigration and a possible escalation of the聽war in Ukraine聽due to German weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
惭辞谤别辞惫别谤,听three-quarters of those who voted for the SPD did not do so out of conviction but rather to fend off the AfD, according to the exit poll published by broadcaster ARD,聽in the聽election with a record turnout of 72.9%.
Brandenburg’s SPD premier Dietmar Woidke聽avoided campaigning with Mr. Scholz, Germany’s least popular chancellor on record,聽and even criticized the federal coalition’s policies and constant bickering.
As such, the聽regional election results聽are unlikely to end聽the growing debate within聽the SPD over whether Scholz is the right聽person聽to lead the party into next year’s federal election given what critics call his hesitant leadership and poor communication skills.
Asked on Sunday if the SPD federal leadership was the right one, Mr. Woidke said this was not the right time to answer that question.
“But we must also learn the lessons from this election,” he said, noting the SPD needed to get closer to the people. “Especially as the federal level is concerned, there is a lot of catching up to do in the coming months and years.”
The SPD is polling just 15% at national level,聽down from 25.7% in the 2021 federal election. That is behind the AfD on around 20% and opposition conservatives on 32%.
Last week, the mayor of Munich, Germany’s third largest city, was the latest SPD聽party politician聽to suggest it should consider fielding the popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, 64, as its candidate for the 2025 elections.
Party insiders say Mr. Scholz, 66, who already announced his intention to run for a second term, is unlikely to step aside and more senior officials remain loyal to him.
MORE TENSIONS IN BERLIN
The junior partners in Mr. Scholz’s ideologically heterogeneous coalition suffered dismal performances in Sunday’s election which could further stoke tensions in Berlin.
The Greens fell below the 5%聽threshold聽to make it into the state parliament for the first time in two decades on 4.1%, while the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) scraped less than 1% of the vote.
“Either the traffic light coalition shows that it can draw the necessary conclusions from these elections, or it will cease to exist,” warned FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki. “This is a matter of a few weeks. We won’t wait until Christmas. We can’t put the country through that.”
Last week, FDP leader and Finance Minister Christian Lindner had called for an “autumn of decisions”, giving a cryptic answer when asked if his party would break up the coalition.
Still, analysts say the government is unlikely to fall apart given none of the three coalition parties would currently stand to gain from snap elections. Together they are currently polling at around 30% combined, less than the conservatives alone. – Reuters
