Scholz wants another term as chancellor

(Patria) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced yesterday that he wants to be a candidate for a new term in the parliamentary elections to be held in September 2025, despite poor poll results regarding the popularity of his party and himself personally.

- I will run to be chancellor again - Scholz said at the traditional summer press conference, answering a journalist's question whether, given the current unpopularity, he would follow the example of US President Joe Biden and give up a new candidacy.

The German government determined at yesterday's meeting that the next parliamentary elections will be held on September 28, 2025.

- The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is a party that has stood behind me united and will go into the election campaign to win - added the chancellor.

However, a recent poll among SPD members showed that only a third of them consider him a suitable candidate, on par with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who is currently the Germans' favorite politician.

A year before the last elections in 2021, Scholz's SPD had about 15 percent voter support, before gradually catching up by capitalizing on the war among conservative leaders and the Greens' mistakes during their campaign.

In the end, his party won the elections by a small margin with 25.7 percent, ahead of the conservatives.

Repeating something like that is expected to be complicated, as Scholz's three-party government with the Greens and Liberals is more unpopular than ever.

Voter dissatisfaction is felt on a range of issues - immigration, economic and environmental policy, and constant disagreements among allies only fuel the general negative sentiment towards the party.

The government has been facing a crisis due to the war in Ukraine since February 2022, which led to an energy crisis and high inflation.

The three parties (SPD, Greens, Liberals) suffered a debacle in the European elections on June 9, which were marked by conservative victories and a new strengthening of the far-right.

With 13.9 percent, the SPD had its worst national result since 1949.

According to polls, the results of the regional elections in three areas of former East Germany, where the far-right is constantly strengthening, which will be held in September, will be very bad for the three parties in Scholz's coalition.