In the run-off election for the SPD presidency, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas supports the applicant duo Klara Geywitz and Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. "I will choose Klara Geywitz and Olaf Scholz," said Maas on Monday evening at the "Berlin Salon" of the editorial network Germany.
He chose Geywitz because he was convinced that with a dual leadership in 2019, a part of it would have to come from East Germany. "And I choose Olaf Scholz, because I've known him for a long time, have great confidence in him, and because I remember how he took over the Hamburg SPD lying on the ground and led in a short time to an absolute majority."
Scholz stands for thoroughly social democratic politics and gives people orientation and trust, said Maas. He added, "If I read the polls, which Germans are most likely to envision as the next Federal Chancellor, that's Olaf Scholz, not Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or Robert Habeck."
Vote # 119 SPD runoff election: finally confrontation?
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Maas emphasized that he did not make the statement in an official capacity. "As Foreign Minister and member of the Government, you should hold back," he said. As a simple SPD member but he has "no desire to fool around the bush".
The opposing candidates of Geywitz and Scholz are the former NRW Minister of Finance Norbert Walter Borjans and the member of parliament Saskia Esken. The SPD members can vote in a run-off ballot on the new party leadership from 19 to 29 November. Afterwards, a party congress will officially confirm the winners in December and vote on the continuation of the Grand Coalition.
Only a few days ago, the former SPD party leader Martin Schulz had clearly positioned himself. He came "to the conclusion that I trust in all differences Olaf Scholz more than the other applicants," said Schulz SPIEGEL in a double interview with Scholz. "And I can say, this step is not easy for me." Read the full interview with Schulz and Scholz here.
More at SPIEGEL +
For the SPIEGEL, the polling institute Civey recently asked 7534 citizens for their preference: "For which candidate duo should the SPD members in your opinion decide in the ballot for the party presidency?" Result: More respondents wish Walter-Borjans and Esken at the top of the SPD (just under 37 percent) than Geywitz and Scholz (around 25 percent). With a little more than 38 percent, however, a relative majority of all participants spoke in favor of neither of the two candidate pairs. You can find out more about the survey results here.