Germany's popular defense minister has taken himself out of contention to become the country's next leader, clearing the way for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to seek a second term in an early election after a week of arguments that exposed deep divisions in his struggling party.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a video Thursday night that he has informed the center-left Social Democrats' leadership that he is “not available for a candidacy for the office of chancellor.” He said that “Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor and he is the right candidate for chancellor.”
Pistorius' announcement resolves the question of who will run in the election expected on Feb. 23, but a week of very public arguments is widely viewed as having damaged a party that was already far behind the main opposition center-right Union bloc in polls. Rather than building momentum from Scholz's firing of his finance minister two weeks ago, which put an end to his unpopular three-party coalition, party members have aired public doubts about the chancellor.
The Social Democrats' rivals have already determined who will lead their campaigns. The Union nominated Friedrich Merz as its challenger in September. Scholz’s remaining coalition partners, the Greens, named Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck to head their challenge on Sunday.
While Scholz has made clear for months that he intends to run for a second term and his party's leadership had made clear that it backed him, the lack of a formal nomination so far created space for persistent speculation that the party might instead choose Pistorius, who enjoys much higher popularity.
On Monday, two influential lawmakers said Scholz’s “current standing is strongly linked" with the failed coalition, which collapsed in a dispute about how to revive Germany’s stagnant economy, and that they were hearing a lot of compliments for Pistorius. Others weighed in for and against the chancellor, who was at the Group of 20 summit in Brazil as the debate swirled.
Pistorius repeatedly said he stands behind Scholz and gave no indication that he plans to run for chancellor, but also conspicuously didn't rule it out until Thursday. The discussion, he said in the video released by the Social Democrats' leadership, was damaging to the party.
“I did not initiate this discussion, I did not want it and I did not bring myself into discussion for anything,” he said. “We now have a joint responsibility to end this debate.”
Social Democrat co-leader Saskia Esken was quoted as saying by the daily Rheinische Post on Friday that Pistorius' decision was “a great signal of solidarity” with the party and Scholz.
The party leadership is expected to formally nominate Scholz as its candidate for chancellor on Monday.
