BERLIN, Sept 23 (Askume) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) defeated far-right parties in regional elections on Sunday , potentially giving him some relief from growing criticism of his party leadership.
The left-wing Social Democrats made a last-minute comeback in the eastern state of Brandenburg, which has been in power since reunification in 1990. Scholz also holds his own constituency and won the election with 30.9% of the vote.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has held the top spot in the state for the past two years, won 29.2% of the vote, according to provisional official results released by the state election commissioner.
Still, the AfD’s support has risen by 5.7 percentage points since the Brandenburg election five years ago, and earlier this month it became the first right-wing party to win a state election in Germany since World War II .
The option for Germany is steadily gaining momentum amid a cost-of-living crisis in Europe’s largest economy, irregular immigration and concerns that German arms supplies to Kiev could escalate the war in Ukraine.
Furthermore, according to exit polls published by broadcaster ARD, three-quarters of those who voted for the SPD did so not out of conviction but to stop the AfD, and the election saw a record turnout of 72.9%.
Dietmar Wodeck, chairman of the Brandenburg Social Democratic Party, has avoided running with Scholz, Germany’s most unpopular chancellor ever, and has even criticised the federal coalition’s policies and ongoing infighting.
The regional results are therefore unlikely to put an end to growing debate within the Social Democrats over whether Scholz is the right person to lead the party into next year’s federal election, with critics criticising his indecisive leadership and poor communication skills.
Asked on Sunday whether the SPD’s federal leadership was right, Wodek said it was not the right time to answer that question.
“But we must also learn lessons from this election,” he said, adding that the SPD needs to stay closer to the people. “Especially at the federal level, there is a lot of work to be done in the coming months and years.”
The Social Democrats won just 15% of the vote nationally, down from 25.7% in the 2021 federal election. It trails the AfD by about 20 points and the opposition conservatives by 32 points.
Last week, the mayor of Munich, Germany’s third-largest city, became the latest Social Democratic politician to suggest the party consider Boris Pistorius, the 64-year-old defense minister, as a candidate in the 2025 elections.
Party insiders say Scholz, 66, who has announced he will run for re-election, is unlikely to step down and that more senior officials will remain loyal to him.
The situation in Berlin has become more tense
A disappointing performance in Sunday’s election by junior partners in Scholz’s ideologically heterogeneous coalition is likely to fuel tensions in Berlin.
The Greens fell below the 5% threshold to enter state parliament for the first time in two decades with 4.1% of the vote, while the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) got less than 1%.
“Either the traffic light alliance shows that it can draw the necessary conclusions from these elections, or it will cease to exist,” FDP deputy chairman Wolfgang Kubicki warned. “This country cannot be allowed to fall into this situation.”
Last week, FDP leader and Finance Minister Christian Lindner called for an “autumn decision” and gave an cryptic answer when asked if the FDP would break the coalition.
Still, analysts say the government is unlikely to fall because none of the three coalition parties would benefit from an early election. Their current polling is around 30% combined, lower than the support for the Conservatives alone.
