German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday told his party a February general election would mark a crucial decision on the country’s future.
Despite poor showings in the polls for his center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Scholz and party leader Lars Klingbeil promised that the party would turn things around.
What the party leaderships said
“There is a hell of a lot at stake,” said Scholz, who is the SPD’s candidate for chancellor in the polls expected in February. “We are facing a fundamental decision for our country, one way or the other,” he told the audience at the event at the party’s Berlin headquarters.
“Now it’s about everything. If we take a wrong turn in Germany now, in this situation, it will have serious consequences.”
Also speaking at the opening of a campaign conference at the SPD’s Berlin headquarters on Saturday, party leader Lars Klingbeil was upbeat about prospects for the likely election on February.
“The Social Democrats are standing together, but above all, the Social Democrats are highly motivated for this election campaign.”
“85 days, it’s going to be a tough ride. It will challenge us,” Klingbeil added, referring to what promises to be a tense race to the early parliamentary elections expected to be held on February 23.
“And if there’s one thing the SPD can do, it’s fight: we’re a party for catching up, and we’re going to show that over the next 85 days,” Klingbeil said.
What the polls say
According to one poll, Scholz was clearly gaining ground in terms of voter approval over his challenger Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate for the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU).
In the survey published on Saturday by the opinion research institute Insa on behalf of the Bild newspaper, 22% of respondents said they would vote for Scholz directly as chancellor if this option existed.
The figure shows a seven percentage point uptick on the previous week. However, 30% still said they would vote for Scholz’s main rival, the CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz. Meanwhile, 16% said they would choose Robert Habeck, of the Greens — a slight dip compared with last week.
rc/wmr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
