SPD will not officially nominate chancellor candidate until the new year

Article by AFP • 43 mins • 2 minutes reading time According to its general secretary Matthias Miersch, the SPD will not officially nominate its chancellor candidate until the end of January or the beginning of February at a federal party conference. He rejected calls from the Union for new elections as quickly as possible. According to its general secretary Matthias Miersch, the SPD will not officially nominate its chancellor candidate until the end of January or the beginning of February at a federal party conference. "I have no doubt that Olaf Scholz will be the candidate," said Miersch after discussions in the party committees on Monday in Berlin. However, the party conference will formally determine this after prior discussions in the committees. According to Miersch, the SPD's election program will also be decided then. He believes the date mentioned is appropriate, said the general secretary. The party must have sufficient opportunity to discuss the content. The timetable is in contrast to demands from the CDU/CSU for rapid new elections, for which Chancellor Scholz should pave the way this week by asking the vote of confidence. The associated much earlier election date is "not feasible in my view," said Miersch. He reiterated that all democratic parties must have an interest in conducting the elections properly. These must not be vulnerable to retrospective attack. Election preparation is "not trivial," for example when it comes to drawing up lists. In this context, Miersch was clearly critical of attacks from the Union on Federal Election Commissioner Ruth Brand, who was accused of bias in the question of the election date. "We have to be careful that the institutions we have are not called into question," said the SPD General Secretary. He does not consider such attacks "in any way justified or effective." Miersch expressed the hope that an agreement on the date issue would be reached in planned talks between SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich and Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU): "I trust Merz and Mützenich to find an amicable solution," he said. Miersch also appeared confident that decisions could still be reached on at least some of the substantive issues. He mentioned support for Ukraine, the reduction of the tax bracket, the increase in child benefit, but also other points such as the Deutschlandticket and rent control.