The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) announced Tuesday that Scholtz, the incumbent German chancellor, has been elected as its candidate for a second term as chancellor.
At a press conference held by the SPD on the 25th, SPD leader Saskia Esken said that Schultz was“Unanimously nominated as the SPD’s candidate for Prime Minister”, scholtz is the “Right man” for the particular situation in which Germany, Europe and the world find themselves today.
The ruling coalition of Scholtz’s Social Democrats, Liberal Democrats and Greens has recently been sharply divided on issues such as fiscal policy. On November 6th Mr Scholtz sacked the LDP Chairman as Finance Minister. On the same day the LDP Christian Lindner out of government, the three-party coalition broke up.
Mr Scholtz is due to launch a motion of no confidence against the prime minister in the Bundestag on December 16th. With less than half of the seats taken by the ruling Social Democrats and Greens combined, the motion of no confidence will not pass without a hitch, in accordance with the German Basic Law, the Bundestag will be dissolved and a new election will be held within 60 days, normally by the winner of the first party to elect a new government prime minister. The vote is expected on February 23rd.
According to local media reports, so far, for the first time in Germany, four candidates for the Prime Minister to run. In addition to Mr Scholtz, the other three candidates for chancellor are Merz, the CDU chairman; Harbeck, the current vice-chancellor from the Green Party; and WEIDL, the afd chairman.