German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Thursday renounced a possible run for chancellor for the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) in upcoming elections, clearing the way for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to run for a second term.
The announcement puts an end to weeks of uncertainty over who would lead the SPD into the election, with the party already languishing in third place in nationwide polls.
“I have just informed our party and parliamentary group leaders that I will not be standing as a candidate for the office of federal chancellor,” he said in a video posted to SPD social media channels. “This is my sovereign, personal and entirely personal decision.”
Traditionally the incumbent chancellor would always be in pole position to lead his or her party into the next election – former Chancellor Angela Merkel won four consecutive terms for the conservatives.
But the stark difference in popularity between Scholz, the least popular chancellor on record, and Pistorius, Germany’s most popular politician since he stepped onto the national stage as defence minister two years ago, had raised questions within the party about whom to bet on.
Pistorius, who to date had never totally excluded running for chancellor, fully threw his backing behind Scholz for the first time on Thursday evening.
“In Olaf Scholz, we have an outstanding federal chancellor,” he said. “He has led a coalition of three parties through perhaps the biggest crisis in recent decades.”
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