Bundestag candidacy: Boris Pistorius chooses Hanover

Boris Pistorius has decided: the popular defense minister wants to go star-Information about running for the Bundestag for the first time – in the City of Hanover II constituency. This was confirmed by SPD party circles star.

Pistorius’ decision was made last weekend. It falls into a sensitive phase for his SPD, bursting into the middle of the emerging debate about Olaf Scholz’s suitability as a candidate for chancellor for the federal election in autumn 2025. The SPD’s situation has been bad for months, and the chancellor was recently publicly defeated within his own ranks Pressured to finally fight more.

Pistorius, 64, is repeatedly mentioned as a potential replacement when it comes to the question of who will lead the party in the next election campaign. His candidacy is a sign that he is a force to be reckoned with in the SPD – no matter what happens next with the traffic lights.

Boris Pistorius explored his chances for a long time

The SPD leadership in Berlin was also looking forward to seeing what the country’s most popular politician would decide for months. The lawyer, so far without a mandate in the Bundestag, had been weighing up for months whether he should run or not and had explored his chances in several constituencies. Pistorius explored his hometown of Osnabrück, and there were also supposedly discussions about a Pistorius candidacy in Hildesheim and Celle.

Hanover knows Pistorius well from his time as state interior minister. His decision to run in the south of the city may also have something to do with the good chances of being elected there, as the constituency has been firmly in Social Democratic hands for more than 70 years. The application is piquant, not least because Gerhard Schröder is also at home in Hanover. Pistorius takes a decidedly different course in Ukraine policy than the former Chancellor.

Initial reactions on site are positive. “We are pleased that Boris Pistorius is running for a Bundestag mandate in his long-time adopted home of Hanover,” said Steffen Krach, chairman of the SPD sub-district Hanover region. “This is good news for the people of Hanover.”

Pistorius’ official nomination as a candidate for the Bundestag takes place after star– Information will only be available on March 21, 2025. His application is likely to be discussed throughout the entire party as a kind of declaration of war, but in any case it will send a signal as far as the formation of the Social Democrats is concerned, even after the federal election. Pistorius, as his decision shows, wants to continue to be involved, including in the Bundestag faction.

There is a certain panic there given the current situation of the SPD. If the party remains at its current poll numbers, the Bundestag faction, which currently has 207 members, would probably be more or less halved in the next election. Confidence in Chancellor Scholz to lead the SPD out of its downward trend is steadily declining within his party. His personal poll numbers were recently even worse than those of Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, who is said to have a sympathy problem even within his own ranks, especially among women and younger people.

“City of Hanover II”: An SPD success story

The Social Democrats are also so nervous about the next federal election because with the new voting law, even constituency winners would not automatically be able to enter parliament. If a party wins more constituencies and therefore more mandates than it is entitled to based on the second vote result, constituency winners with weaker results could, in extreme cases, miss out on entering parliament.

This is likely to intensify the fight for the coveted list places in the federal states. A top position on the state list minimizes the risk of not entering parliament if, for example, you lose as a direct candidate against another candidate.

In Lower Saxony, many well-known top competitors have already competed for good placements on the state list in order to secure themselves. The placement is also evidence of one’s own authority within the national association. The question of where Pistorius ends up will now be exciting. In the 2021 federal election, Hubertus Heil (Minister of Labor) headed the state list in Lower Saxony, followed by equally influential comrades such as Matthias Miersch (party vice-president, 3rd place) and Lars Klingbeil (co-party leader, 5th place). All three want to compete again, they now have to come to terms with Pistorius.

The SPD politician Yasmin Fahimi won the direct mandate in the constituency that the Defense Minister has now chosen in the last federal election. She is now chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). Fahimi therefore resigned from her mandate in May 2022 and will not run again. Daniela De Ridder (Mittelems constituency) replaced Fahimi via the SPD state list. The constituency itself is currently represented in the Bundestag by one member each from the FDP (Knut Gerschau) and the Green Party (Sven-Christian Kindler), both of whom entered parliament via their parties’ state lists. A successor in the SPD for the candidacy in the constituency had previously been vacant.

Pistorius is likely to get a strong first vote result

Pistorius is also likely to be a direct candidate. A strong result would also strengthen the claim to a leadership role, whatever the role.

In Hanover II, Pistorius takes on a great legacy. Since 1949, the constituency has been won without exception by direct candidates of the SPD – for example Kurt Schumacher, a party legend. Schumacher rebuilt the Western SPD after the war, was party and parliamentary group leader of the Social Democrats and, as opposition leader, one of the biggest opponents of CDU Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Friedrich Merz also initiated his comeback into politics by running for the Bundestag. He then became party leader and then parliamentary group leader. Now he wants to replace Olaf Scholz.