They landed in the first two seats in the SPD membership decision on the future party presidency - with only a small margin: Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz received 22.68 percent of the vote, Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans 21.04 percent. At the end of November, the party members will vote again - and decide in a run-off who will lead the SPD.
These are the candidates for the SPD presidency:
Philipp Guelland / EPA-EFE / REX
Klara Geywitz and Olaf Scholz
Klara Geywitz, 43 years old
Klara Geywitz is a proven strategist - not for nothing, the Potsdam last year, the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD negotiated. It is regarded as a promising youngster of the Brandenburg SPD and since 2017 also belongs to the Federal Party Executive Board. At the Brandenburg election in September, however, the chairwoman of the Interior Committee lost the direct mandate in her constituency, which she had won three times before - and flew out of the state legislature.
The 43-year-old is considered a woman who knows what she wants, as ruthlessly honest, but also capable of conflict. She solves problems in the background. Geywitz seldom displays open emotions, but she notices this with an extremely ironic sense of humor.
Geywitz joined the SPD in 1994, from 2008 to 2013 she was deputy party leader in Brandenburg, then until 2017 Secretary General was in the country and in the meantime also acted as a possible successor to Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke. Already more often she was promoted to top office, but so far she refused with reference to the family but always.
Olaf Scholz,
61 years
Actually, he had already taken out of the race for the SPD party presidency, before it really began: "Time is not at all", in addition to the Office as Federal Finance Minister also still lead the party, said Olaf Scholz in the TV program of Anne Will on the evening of 2 June - the day Andrea Nahles announced her retirement. Two and a half months later, Scholz finally arrived. In a sense, because he is the Federal Minister of Finance.
Because the Vice Chancellor is the only one from the front row of the old SPD leadership, who has applied for the party presidency. After all SPD ministers in the Federal Cabinet and SPD heads of state had waved in the federal states, the internal pressure on the Hamburg Scholz grew. At least one well-known personality should apply for the leadership of German Social Democracy. In any case, Scholz can seldom hide the fact that he considers himself more capable than anyone else. Top comrades call him one of the brightest but also the most arrogant heads of the party.
Even Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has great respect for its finance minister: The 61-year-old is reliable, his word is true. Scholz encounters friends and opponents with a dry sense of humor. When he grins, which he likes to do, his eyes narrow to small slits. The vice-chancellor is known as a tough and accomplished negotiator, was in charge of SPD leaders in the coalition rings on the issues of tax and finance. Scholz is married to Brandenburg's Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD).
Since 2002, Scholz has been moving almost everywhere on the federal political stage, initially as secretary-general of the party, which must defend Chancellor Schröder's controversial aganda policy. He does that in a way that earned him the epithet "Scholzomat" - not very enthusiastic. From 2007 to 2009, Scholz moved to work as Minister of Labor for the first time in the Federal Cabinet, after the end of the Grand Coalition, he goes back to Hamburg and brings the SPD there in 2011 a brilliant election victory. As head of government, he enjoys in the Hanseatic city at least until the G20 summit in the summer of 2017, high popularity. In early 2018, he will return to Berlin - as Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of the Grand Coalition.
Philipp Guelland / EPA-EFE / REX
Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken
Norbert Walter-Borjans,
67 years
Since his term as Minister of Finance in North Rhine-Westphalia Walter-Borjans - nicknamed "Nowabo" - is considered "Robin Hood the taxpayer". At that time, he bought data from potential German tax fraudsters in Switzerland, the famous tax CDs. He brought more than seven billion euros into the treasury. Walter-Borjans came into politics in 1984, the then NRW Prime Minister Johannes Rau (SPD) brought him to the State Chancellery. From 1991 he was, inter alia, deputy government spokesman and State Secretary.
In 2006, the fan of the 1st FC and father of four children in Cologne became Chief Economic Officer, in 2009 additional treasurer. The financial distress of the municipalities made him inventive: He developed the bed tax, through which five percent of the hotel room rate flows into the clammy city treasury.
The doctor of economics became NRW Minister of Finance in 2010 and remained there for seven years. During this time he liked to mess with others - according to the motto: "Finance ministers are always the fun spoilers". After finishing his ministry he wrote a book about his fight against tax evasion. Walter-Borjans comes from a family of craftsmen, the father was a carpenter, the mother a seamstress.
Saskia Esken,
58 years
She has been sitting in the Bundestag since 2013, is an expert on digital issues and is committed to ensuring that the digital transformation not only benefits elites, but has access to them. Equal opportunities and justice are among Eskens' key objectives, which belongs to the Parliamentary Left in the SPD Group. It is committed to a strong state and decisive climate protection.
Born in Stuttgart and raised in Böblingen, Esken was influenced by her parents' social and political commitment. She initially worked in restaurants, as a driver and typist. Later, she completed an apprenticeship as a computer scientist and developed software. She gained experience in the provincial parents' council, in politics at local and county level. Esken joined the SPD in 1990. She has three children and is at home in the northern Black Forest, likes forest walks, music and likes to read.
Esken is committed among other things also against extreme rights. So she founded an "Alliance Against Law" in Calw in 2009, because the NPD had considered setting up their state office there.