The German Social Democrats elect Olaf Scholz in a difficult bid to retain the Chancellery

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) formally elected Chancellor Olaf Scholz this Saturday as its candidate for revalidation in the February legislative elections, knowing that his figure is closely linked to the collapse of the government coalition that anticipated these elections and that his party is at a disadvantage in the polls against conservatives and the extreme right.

Scholz has assumed command at the SPD congress held this Saturday in Berlin, where practically all the delegates, almost 600, have given him their support against only five votes against. The chancellor has taken the microphone with a call to fight and with words against the rising German far-right.

“If on February 23 we take the wrong course, we will wake up in a different country,” the chancellor said in his speech, reported by ‘Der Spiegel’.

The chancellor, who described the turn to the far right in neighboring Austria as “oppressive”, has warned in a veiled reference to tycoon Elon Musk, defender of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), that “in the United States there are forces working to destroy our democratic institutions.

Scholz has taken the opportunity to sing a ‘mea culpa’ for the failure of the coalition with the Greens and Liberals at the time it occurred, and regretted not having ended the alliance sooner when it enjoyed greater political strength. “Maybe I should have hit the table earlier, not just behind the scenes, but publicly,” he acknowledged.

Unlike his first run for chancellor in 2021, Scholz was not elected by secret ballot this time.

The party leadership justified this with the fact that Scholz now presents himself as chancellor and not as a rival. Therefore, the usual thing in these cases is to decide by acclamation, that is, by raising your hand or standing up.

In 2021, 96.2% of delegates voted in favor of Scholz in a secret online vote during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SPD, according to the polls, would obtain 15 percent of the vote, five points less than the AfD and far behind the conservative CDU/CSU coalition, which would win 31 percent and would need to start talks again with the Social Democrats to form government.