About three months before the early elections in Germany, the Social Democrats will officially nominate Olaf Scholz for his candidate for chancellor despite his extremely low approval rating, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
His formal nomination comes after the party was divided by two weeks of heated debate over whether the far more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius should be nominated as a candidate instead of Scholz, who many in the centre-left party believe should be refuse.
On Thursday, however, Pistorius openly confirmed that he did not want to be nominated for the chancellorship, thus paving the way for Scholz's nomination.
The defense minister is one of thirty-three voting members of the party's executive council who will decide on the chancellor's candidacy today.
Scholz is the third chancellor candidate to be nominated by one of the parties for the upcoming elections on February 23, after the candidacies of CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the “Greens” were already announced.
The executive council of the far-right party "Alternative for Germany" is expected on December 7. to nominate party leader Alice Weidel as its chancellor candidate. This means that for the first time, four candidates for chancellor will appear in federal elections.