The casting tour of the SPD begins on Wednesday evening in Saarbrücken. At 6 pm, the candidate teams for the party chairmanship present themselves in the Congress Center Saar, at the first of a total of 23 regional conferences. The tour ends on October 12th in Munich.
Thus, the race for the succession of Andrea Nahles in a crucial phase. Three months ago, the first leader of the SPD declared her withdrawal. In a process over five months, the comrades want to determine a new party leadership.
After the regional conferences, the approximately 435,000 SPD members vote. The result will be presented on October 26th. If no team or individual candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, there is a run-off ballot. The new SPD leadership will be formally elected at the party convention in early December.
For two months, the applicants had time to decide on a candidacy. In a second step, they had to be nominated by five sub-districts, a district or a national association. Eight teams and one individual candidate have met the eligibility criteria, according to the electoral board of the SPD. How do you stand with the Grand Coalition? And what are your chances?
These are the applicants:
These comrades want to be party leaders
Olaf Scholz, 61, and Klara Geywitz, 43: At first, the Vice Chancellor had still wavered. As finance minister, he has no time to lead the SPD. Then the swing, too big had become the pressure that one of the first row puts up for election. Scholz and the Brandenburg member of parliament Geywitz stand for the governing party SPD, they want to continue the GroKo and avoid new elections.
The prospects: Scholz and Geywitz are the top favorites. The Vice Chancellor is the most prominent candidate, which should be an important criterion for many members. His tandem partner, on the other hand, has hardly made any appearance outside of Brandenburg. It could be dangerous for the duo, if the mood in the SPD clearly turns against the GroKo.
Nina Scheer, 47, and Karl Lauterbach, 56: The two members of the Bundestag are clearly positioning themselves for an end to GroKo. Group vice Lauterbach has made a name for himself nationwide as a health expert, is in the party but also as a loner without a large network. Scheer is an expert in environmental policy, but she is in the shadow of her medial much more experienced co-candidate.
The prospects: In the ranks of the party left there are applicants who can count on more supporters. The positioning against the GroKo is considered by some to be a tactical move. Nevertheless, Lauterbach and Scheer are certainly given opportunities.
Petra Köpping, 61, and Boris Pistorius, 59: are prominent state politicians who belong to the pragmatic part of the party. The Saxon Minister of Integration drew attention to herself with the book "Integrating for the first time". In it Köpping writes about the feeling of many East Germans to be detached. Pistorius has been Minister of the Interior in Lower Saxony since 2013 and is a traditional social democrat. The duo does not want to continue the alliance with the Union at any cost, but does not count to the no-groKo faction.
The prospects: Köpping and Pistorius are given good chances to make it to the runoff. Although they are not as well known as Scholz. But they stand for something new - without scare the more conservative members.
Michael Roth, 49, and Christina Kampmann, 39: The Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office and the former NRW Family Minister want to reform the party structures. They propose to abolish the presidium, to reduce the number of deputy chairmen to three and to draw two seats on the board among the members. The duo first declared his candidacy, but still has to fight for weeks for attention.
The prospects: Kampmann and Roth are gladly certified by the party to be respectable candidates. However, this also shows that only a few seriously give them chances of winning.
Ralf Stegner, 59, and Gesine Schwan, 76: The party party and the chairman of the Values Commission have mocked their candidacy - in the party and in public. Stegner has been coordinating the left wing of the party for years, but he also has to listen to criticism, not to let go. Schwan wants to align the SPD more strongly with the basic values.
The prospects: rather low.
Norbert Walter-Borjans, 66, and Saskia Esken, 58: The ex-NRW finance minister was best known for his fight against tax fraud and the purchase of tax CDs. Esken is a member of parliament and expert on digital politics.
The prospects: With the support of the Jusos and the strongest member of the state association of North Rhine-Westphalia, the duo has chances of winning the runoff.
Simone Lange, 42, and Alexander Ahrens, 53: Flensburg's mayor already ran for the party chairmanship in 2018 and brought a respectable result against Andrea Nahles. The Bautzen Mayor Ahrens had left the party at times and resurfaced in 2017.
The prospects: low.
Hilde Mattheis, 64, and Dierk Hirschel, 49: The Bundestag deputies and the Ver.di chief economist rely on a traditional left course, are in favor of redistribution and the overcoming of Hartz IV Without such a departure, they see the crisis of the SPD as unconquerable ,
The prospects: low.
Karl-Heinz Brunner, 66: The member of parliament from Neu-Ulm is the only individual applicant who has taken the nomination barrier. He justified his application with the fact that among the candidates there was a surplus of GroKo opponents and the left party spectrum.
The prospects: low.