Walter-Borjans and Esken nominated for SPD party committee

The most powerful SPD state association North Rhine-Westphalia nominated Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken as candidates for the SPD national presidency. The state committee in Dortmund unanimously supported the application of the former NRW finance minister and the member of parliament from Baden-Württemberg. This said Landesparteichef Sebastian Hartmann after the meeting.

Walter-Borjans had previously announced that he wanted to run for "only with a clear vote of the state executive committee". Shortly before the application deadline, Walter-Borjans and Esken can now vote in the race for the successor of Andrea Nahles. The 66-year-old Walter-Borjans had made a nationwide reputation for his fight against tax evasion abroad.

There are two further candidates from NRW, Ex-Provincial Minister of Family Affairs Christina Kampmann and the Cologne Member of Parliament Karl Lauterbach, who each apply with a tandem partner for the SPD national presidency. They have already been nominated from sub-districts.

Lauterbach had called on the state executive committee on Thursday to remain neutral and to support none of the applications. Lauterbach told the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" that a vote by the NRW state executive committee created "the impression of a special candidate".

The candidates will present themselves in 23 regional conferences from the middle of next week. From mid-October, the SPD members then vote on the future peak. Formally completed the election process for the SPD national presidency in early December with a party congress in Berlin.