German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced plans to run for the government’s top post again in 2025. He also dismissed his Social Democratic Party's (SPD) recent poor election results as a “stimulus” to do better, during a two-hour media conference in Berlin.
The SPD suffered poor nationwide election results in the European Parliament elections in early June, where it received just under 14% of the vote. The party’s rating also stands at around 14%, according to ARD Deutschlandtrend survey results published in early July.
The chancellor claimed that his party is “determined to go into the next federal election campaign together and to win.” He said that while the poll results were “not good,” his party will show that the SPD-led government made the right decisions during its tenure and will “succeed in convincing everyone of this.”
Asked whether he will follow in the footsteps of US President Joe Biden, who recently abandoned his 2024 reelection bid, Scholz maintained that he is determined to run and win in 2025.
“I will run for chancellor to become the chancellor again,” he said. Under the German election system, the party that receives the most votes in the federal parliamentary election has the chance to form a government, usually in a coalition with other parties. Scholz’s Social Democrats lead the present coalition, which also includes the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.
Scholz insisted his party is “very united.” Recent poll results published by the German media paint another picture. According to a survey conducted in early July, only a third of SPD members believe Scholz should run again as the party’s candidate for chancellor, with 67% saying that a different candidate would improve the party’s chances in the upcoming elections.
A third of party members named Defense Minister Boris Pistorius as a suitable candidate. More than half of SPD members (51%) believe the party is in a serious crisis, according to a Forsa Institute poll on behalf of RND media outlet. However, around 55% of SPD members also stated they were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with Scholz. The poll was conducted from July 8-12 and involved 1,001 SPD members.
Data from online statistics aggregator Statista shows that Scholz’s popular support has hit one of its lowest points since early 2022, with only 28% of Germans viewing his work positively and 67% negatively in June.