Candidacy for chancellor: Important SPD sub-district Bochum wants Pistorius

The chairman of the SPD Bochum, Serdar Yüksel, warns of a dramatic defeat in the federal election and calls for a quick decision by the party leadership to make Boris Pistorius the candidate for chancellor. “The mood in our local associations and among the members is clear: Let’s change. Boris Pistorius would be the best candidate for chancellor,” said Yüksel, who also wants to run for the Bundestag star. “Olaf Scholz was a good chancellor, he doesn’t need to hide, especially when it comes to Ukraine politics. But whether he runs again is not just a personal decision on his part. The question now is whether the SPD will survive.”

Yüksel, who is also a member of the state parliament, continued: “If you were to survey the members of the SPD, 80 percent would be for Pistorius. I see people every day who say: We would elect you again if you had another candidate.”

The demand is likely to fuel the debate about a change in the candidate for chancellor, as the SPD Bochum is seen as a kind of seismograph in the party and one of the most important sub-districts in North Rhine-Westphalia, the former heart chamber of social democracy. The party has been discussing a swap in the candidate for chancellor for days. So far, the party leadership has ruled out running with Pistorius instead of Scholz in the election campaign, but given the falling polls for the SPD and Scholz, the calls are getting louder. Among SPD supporters, only a minority of 27 percent are in favor of Scholz becoming the top candidate again. According to “Forsa,” 67 percent of SPD voters want Pistorius to be the SPD’s next candidate for chancellor.

Yüksel called on the Chancellor to clear the way before Christmas. “December 16, the date of the vote of confidence, would be a good opportunity for Scholz to say: I won’t run again. That could be a liberation for us.” He said: “I understand that the Berliners say: Olaf is great in the rounds when we are among ourselves. But that doesn’t do us much good. We’re lucky that we have the most popular politician. We should use that .”

He is convinced that Pistorius can be chancellor. “He communicates differently, he has a different appearance than Scholz. Especially in these times you have to explain democracy, not just defend it.” According to Yüksel, the defense minister demands truths from the party that are considered necessary. The argument that it is too late to change does not work. “Everyone knows Boris Pistorius. You could nominate him from now on. If we nominate him at the party conference in January, we would have over 30 days to campaign with him.”

“We should learn from the CDU’s mistake in 2021: it relied on the established candidate instead of nominating the popular candidate,” warns Onno Eckert, district administrator of Gotha and member of the SPD state executive board. “That’s why the Union lost the federal election. We shouldn’t repeat this mistake, but should nominate Boris Pistorius as our candidate for chancellor.”

He doesn’t just think Pistorius is the right candidate because of his popularity. “As Interior Minister in Lower Saxony and as Federal Defense Minister, he never shirked. He always represented his positions credibly, authentically and competently. I therefore trust him to be Chancellor.”