Scholz’s party dismisses questions about German leader’s election candidacy

BERLIN — The leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party on Monday sought to squash questions about his candidacy in next year’s national election after narrowly beating the far right in a regional vote.

Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats beat the far-right Alternative for Germany in the eastern state of Brandenburg Sunday thanks to the popularity of Gov. Dietmar Woidke, who had trailed in polls and said that he would quit unless his party finished first.

Woidke kept Scholz and the unpopular national government out of his campaign, while the two other parties in Scholz’s coalition in Berlin dropped to extremely poor results.

The Social Democrats’ co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, took comfort from the outcome for the national election due next September, although the party’s performances in the European Parliament election in June and in two state elections in eastern Germany on Sept. 1 were dismal and it is performing poorly in nationwide polls.

“I as party leader want to win the national parliamentary election — that is 12 months away and we will fight together,” Klingbeil said at a news conference. “Yesterday’s election gives us courage that we can do it, but of course I also know that the challenges and the questions we have to deal with at national level are far from dealt with as a result of yesterday evening.”

Scholz has said that he will seek a second term. Some lower-level party members have periodically questioned the wisdom of that and the Social Democrats haven’t yet made it official, but Klingbeil reinforced the message that his candidacy isn’t in question.

“There is absolutely no wobbling,” he said. “In the leadership of the party, the parliamentary group, among the state governors and ministers, there is no discussion about this in any place.”

The mainstream center-right Union bloc, which leads national polls, has already chosen Friedrich Merz as its candidate for chancellor in the national election.