For about two weeks, around 430,000 SPD party members were able to vote on who should lead the party in the future. Now the membership decision has officially ended: until midnight on the night of Saturday, the party members were able to cast their votes by letter or online. Next is counted.
But on Saturday morning, 250 volunteers from all over Germany will gather in the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. With special slot machines they can open 20,000 postal voting documents per hour.
At 6 pm the winners will be announced. However, the winners of the membership decision are not automatically party leaders. If no pair receives more than 50 percent of the votes, a second round vote is necessary. In addition, the winners must be confirmed at a party convention in early December.
In total, six duos stood for the succession of the retired party leader Andrea Nahles for election.
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"The SPD needs a leadership that gives their self-confidence and strength," said Bundestag faction leader Rolf Mützenich the newspapers of the spark media group. He attributed Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz a role of favorites for the party presidency. "I am quite confident that Olaf Scholz will get a good result and will reach the runoff election," he said when asked if Scholz had to resign as Minister if he was succumbed. Scholz arrives with the Brandenburg member of parliament Klara Geywitz.
Mützenich also campaigned for a continuation of the Grand Coalition: "I think it does this country good that we enforce social-democratic issues in the coalition."
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