SPD: And suddenly it boils again in the Chancellor’s Party

The fact that Olaf Scholz is caught up by old camels today does not lack a certain irony. At noon he received prince couples, jecken and fools from all over Germany for the traditional carnival reception in the Berlin Chancellery. The foolish hustle and bustle heads to its peak these days and also does not consider Scholz. On the contrary: the Chancellor is confronted with an old question in the hot phase of the short winter election campaign: is he the right one?

In the SPD it is bubbling, a media report causes unrest. If the research is confirmed, an SPD parliamentary group says that starask the question of who will use the publication at the present time. “From my perspective, this damages everyone involved.” Other comrades already expressly suspect.

Reason for the excitement: SPD boss Lars Klingbeil is said to have repeatedly suggested that Scholz have to do without another candidate for chancellor and therefore had to be presented with the Chancellor in November. This is reported by the “Tagesspiegel” and “T-Online” on Wednesday, citing several sources in the SPD and the party environment.

The party leader has thus expressed concerns from the closer SPD leadership and state associations, which, after the break of the traffic light coalition on November 6, in view of the poor survey of the Chancellor internally for a candidacy by the popular Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius. In the talks with SPD boss Klingbeil, Scholz insisted on his claim, the reports say.

In the Willy-Brandt-Haus, the Berlin SPD headquarters, the reports are clearly rejected. When asked by the starWhether the reports about party leader Klingbeil apply, a SPD spokeswoman in general: “I deny the message. The presentation is wrong.” Co-boss Saskia Esken also rejects the “representation” as “wrong”. It remains unclear whether this is the case or only for parts of the reports.

The comeback of the K question bursts into a sensitive phase of the election campaign, which for Chancellor’s candidate Scholz and his party will not end a good end to the current encoder. For weeks, the SPD values ​​have been stagnating between 15 and 18 percent, thus remaining far behind that of the Union (28 to 30 percent).

Even the “taboo break” in the Bundestag last week, when Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz accepted a majority of votes with the AfD, apparently does not give the Social Democrats a noticeable wind. For many comrades, this is a bitter, frustrating knowledge. There is a hangover mood.

Many attribute the lack of upswing to Olaf Scholz, who is still extremely unpopular even months after the traffic lights. According to surveys, Scholz, together with AfD boss Alice Weidel, forms the bottom of all chancellor candidates. The voters may have already made their judgment about Scholz.

So did the SPD put the wrong horse? This question now flares up again, at a time when the stumbling social democrats can actually not allow themselves to do any noise.

During a trip from Scholz to the G20 summit in Brazil in November, the candidate debate in the SPD broke out openly, and several state and federal politicians spoke out as a more promising front runner for Boris Pistorius at the time. The SPD leadership tried in vain. On November 21, Pistorius finally took out the game by video message.

Well, less than three weeks before the election day and a possibly crashing defeat, the SPD leadership, which had stood behind Scholz as a candidate, is increasingly under pressure. Party leader Lars Klingbeil in particular was criticized at the time that the candidate debate was running too long in November. Klingbeil later admitted that it “didn’t go well”.

The fact that, in the final sprint of an election campaign that is already slow for the SPD, the K question boils up again, several comrades regard as a preceding departure movement from the party leadership. Many suspect that they are trying to reject the possible wrong decision to send Scholz into the race as a candidate. A social democrat expresses against that star The suspicion: “It looks like a maneuver from Klingbeil to distance itself from a possible election defeat at an early stage.” This is opposed to the Dementi from the Willy-Brandt-Haus, according to which the presentation in the reports is wrong.

Either way: distrust and irritation are large in the SPD.

For the SPD leadership, the developments could become even more dangerous, especially for party leader Klingbeil, who could also have a key role in a possible form of government even after an era Scholz. If the comrades enter a possibly historical defeat in the election, so land below 20.5 percent as in 2017, the result should also fall back to the SPD leadership.

At the latest then the question should flare up whether popular Minister Pistorius would not have been the more promising candidate-and the party leadership should have prevailed against a scholz candidacy, loyalty or not, for the benefit of the party.

It is therefore eagerly looking at Thursday and Friday, then a new “Germany trend” and a Allensbach survey is expected. On Sunday, Scholz will compete against Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz for the first time in the TV duel.