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2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election

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2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election
← 2018 14 October – 30 November 2019
6–8 December (confirmation)
2021 →
Turnout226,775 (53.3%) (first round)
230,215 (54.1%) (second round)
 
Candidate Norbert Walter-Borjans
Saskia Esken
Olaf Scholz
Klara Geywitz
First round 44,967 48,473
First round % 21.0% 22.7%
Second round 114,995 98,246
Second round % 53.1% 45.3%

Leader before election

Malu Dreyer (acting)

Elected Leader

Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans

The 2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election took place in the autumn of 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany following the resignation of the Andrea Nahles on 3 June 2019. Although the leadership of the party is elected indirectly by a party convention,[1] for the first time since 1993 the SPD held a vote by the membership to decide the candidates which the party's executive board will propose to the party convention. Though the convention was not obliged to elect the proposed candidates, the membership vote was considered politically binding.[2] For the first time, dual candidacies were permitted, provided they comprised one man and one woman. Most hopeful candidates ran in pairs, and no single applicants advanced to the ballot.

The membership vote was held in two rounds, with the top two tickets from the first round proceeding to a runoff. In the first round held between 14 and 25 October, Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz placed first with 22.7% of the vote, while Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken placed second with 21.0%. In the second round, Walter-Borjans and Esken won with 53.1% of the vote to Scholz and Geywitz's 45.3%.

This was seen as an upset victory for the left-wing of the SPD, including skeptics of the grand coalition with the CDU. Esken and Walter-Borjans were little-known to the public at large, Esken being a backbencher in the Bundestag and Walter-Borjans being the former Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 to 2017. Scholz, the incumbent Vice-Chancellor a business-friendly fiscal conservative, had the backing of much of the party establishment, including General-Secretary Lars Klingbeil and several Ministers-President such as Stephan Weil[3] and Hamburg First Mayor Peter Tschentscher.

In December 2019, the SPD party convention elected Walter-Borjans and Esken as the new co-leaders of the party. Though they had previously hinted an end the grand coalition with the CDU, they backed away from that, first proposing a revision of the coalition agreement. The CDU did not accept this, but the party nonetheless continued the coalition.[4]

Walter-Borjans and Esken proved to be unpopular and barely-known leaders and their parties poll numbers did not recover from the low to mid tens.[5] In August 2020, Walter-Borjans and Esken nominated the much more popular Scholz to be their Chancellor candidate[6] for which they were widely mocked.[7] However, in near the end of the 2021 German federal election, Scholz's personal popularity fueled a sudden surge of the SPD in the polls, leading to their victory and, eventually, Scholz becoming Chancellor.

Scholz's running mate, Klara Geywitz, who had lost her seat in the Landtag of Brandenburg during the campaign and went to work for the Brandenburg Court of Audit, would later be appointed Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building by Scholz to his cabinet.

Background

[edit]

In the 2017 federal election, the SPD won just 20.5% of votes cast, its worst result in the history of the Federal Republic. Party leader Martin Schulz subsequently announced that the SPD would not renew the grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in which it had served since 2013. However, in November, after it became clear that there were no viable alternatives, Schulz reneged on his pledge and called an extraordinary party conference which voted to negotiate a new coalition agreement with the CDU. Schulz was subject to significant opposition and criticism from the party, and resigned as leader in February 2018. However, the coalition agreement was approved by 66.0% of the party members in a vote held later that month, and the SPD re-entered government.

Schulz proposed Andrea Nahles as his successor, and she was confirmed as the SPD's new leader at a party convention in April 2018. Nahles quickly faced difficulties with the new government as many disputes arose over the summer of 2018, including the "asylum quarrel" and controversy around Hans-Georg Maaßen. Nahles was unable to stabilize her party as its performance in opinion polling declined to record lows, accompanied by a string of historically poor state election performances. In national polling, the SPD was overtaken by the Greens in October 2018, and the party polled around 15% through early 2019. In the 2019 European elections held on 26 May, the SPD placed third, winning only 15.8% of votes cast – the worst result for the party on a national level since 1887. Nahles came under major pressure to step down, and announced her resignation on 3 June. The party was thereafter led by acting leaders Malu Dreyer, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel and Manuela Schwesig until the party conference in December which elected the new leadership.

Procedure

[edit]

Party members were permitted to declare their candidacy between 1 July and 1 September. Candidates were able to run as a sole candidate to head the party alone, or with another member on a two-person ticket to serve as co-leaders. In the latter case, at least one candidate was required to be female. Each single candidate or two-person ticket needed sufficient support from state, regional, or local SPD associations in order to run. The requirements were one state association, one regional district, or five local districts. If no candidacy receives an absolute majority of the votes cast in the first round, the two candidacies with the highest number of votes cast proceed to a second round. Both votes were to be considered invalid if less than 20% of the party membership participated. The party's executive board was to propose the winner of the vote to the party convention which took place between 6 and 8 December.[8]

Candidates

[edit]

Candidates

[edit]
Candidates State(s) Announced Slogan Nomination Ref.
Christina Kampmann

Michael Roth

 North Rhine-Westphalia
 Hesse
3 July 2019 "With heart and attitude. Taking the plunge together."
Mit Herz und Haltung. Gemeinsam den Aufbruch wagen.
[9][10][11][12]
Karl Lauterbach

Nina Scheer

 North Rhine-Westphalia
 Schleswig-Holstein
12 July 2019 "Social.Ecological.Clear."
Sozial.Ökologisch.Klar.
[13][14][15]
Gesine Schwan

Ralf Stegner

  • Leader of the SPD Landtag group in Schleswig-Holstein (2008–)
  • Federal deputy leader of the SPD (2014–19)
 Brandenburg
 Schleswig-Holstein
16 August 2019 "Passionate – genuinely social democratic."
Leidenschaftlich – echt sozialdemokratisch.
[16][17]

Petra Köpping

Boris Pistorius

 Saxony
 Lower Saxony
18 August 2019 "#TeamSPD" [18][19]
Klara Geywitz

Olaf Scholz

 Brandenburg
 Hamburg
20 August 2019 "For an SPD that can be proud of itself again."
Für eine SPD, die wieder stolz auf sich sein kann.
[20][21][22]
Norbert Walter-Borjans

Saskia Esken

 North Rhine-Westphalia
 Baden-Württemberg
28 August 2019 "Steadfastly Social Democratic"
Standhaft Sozial Demokratisch
[23][24][25]

Withdrew

[edit]
Candidates State(s) Announced Withdrew Slogan Nomination Ref.

Simone Lange

Alexander Ahrens

 Schleswig-Holstein
 Saxony
2 August 2019 4 September 2019
Endorsed Esken and Walter-Borjans
"Dare social democracy!"
Sozialdemokratie wagen!
[26][27][28]
Karl-Heinz Brunner  Bavaria 20 August 2019 16 September 2019 [29][30]
Hilde Mattheis

Dierk Hirschel

 Baden-Württemberg
 Berlin
18 August 2019 12 October 2019 "#MakeSocialDemocracyPossible"
#MachtSozialdemokratieMöglich
[31][32][33]

Unsuccessful applicants

[edit]
  • Björn Kamlah (announced 13 July 2019)[34]
  • Hans Wallow (announced 15 July 2019)[35]
  • Robert Maier (announced 5 August 2019)[36]
  • Marcus del Monte (announced 17 August 2019)[37]
  • Stephan Frey (announced 28 August 2019)[38]
  • Jan Böhmermann (announced 29 August 2019)[39]

Declined to run

[edit]

Campaign

[edit]

Nominations closed on 1 September. A series of 23 conferences were held throughout that month and early October, at which the candidates presented themselves to the party membership and took questions. At least one conference was held in each of the states. In total, approximately 17,000 attendees turned out for the conferences.

Scholz and Geywitz were widely seen as the frontrunners due to Scholz's prominence; he was the only senior government figure to stand in the election. They represented a moderate course and a continuation of the SPD's involvement in the grand coalition, which had sharply divided the party. On the right of the party, Köpping and Pistorius advocated more conservative positions on migration and integration; despite receiving by far the most district endorsements of any ticket, they were weighed down by a poor performance during the campaign, though they remained contenders. Kampmann and Roth steered a soft left course and boosted their image with a professional campaign. The strongest opponents of the grand coalition on the party left were split between four – later three – tickets who hoped to proceed to the runoff: Walter-Borjans and Esken, Lauterbach and Scheer, Schwan and Stegner, and Mattheis and Hirschel. Mattheis and Hirschel were positioned furthest to the left of the party with little chance of success; they withdrew on the final day of the campaign. Schwan and Stegner favoured a membership vote on the coalition, while Scheer and Lauterbach called for an immediate withdrawal, as well as stronger climate policy. Though strongly critical of the coalition, Walter-Borjans and Esken took a softer stance and emphasised wealth redistribution and fighting inequality. They were considered the most likely to make the runoff, assisted by the endorsement of Jusos chairman Kevin Kühnert, who had himself declined to run.[44][28]

Opinion polling

[edit]

Among members

[edit]
Publication date Polling firm Scholz
Geywitz
Lauterbach
Scheer
Schwan
Stegner
Köpping
Pistorius
Lange
Ahrens
Kampmann
Roth
Esken
Walter-Borjans
None/
Others
19–23 Aug 2019 Forsa 26 14 13 12 7 7 21
3 Oct 2019 wahlkreisprognose.de 19 5 6 20 23 21 6

Among officials

[edit]
Publication date Polling firm Scholz
Geywitz
Lauterbach
Scheer
Schwan
Stegner
Köpping
Pistorius
Lange
Ahrens
Kampmann
Roth
None/
Others
19–23 Aug 2019 Forsa 22 13 13 15 11 10 16

Among voters

[edit]
Publication date Polling firm Scholz
Geywitz
Lauterbach
Scheer
Schwan
Stegner
Köpping
Pistorius
Lange
Ahrens
Kampmann
Roth
Esken
Walter-Borjans
None/
Others
26–28 Oct 2019 Civey 35.4 54.2 10.4
5–11 Sep 2019 Civey 23.3 11.0 11.7 14.4 6.9 14.0 18.7

Results

[edit]
Summary of the 2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election
Candidates 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Olaf Scholz & Klara Geywitz 48,473 22.68 98,246 45.33
Norbert Walter-Borjans & Saskia Esken 44,967 21.04 114,995 53.06
Christina Kampmann & Michael Roth 34,793 16.28
Nina Scheer & Karl Lauterbach 31,271 14.63
Petra Köpping & Boris Pistorius 31,230 14.41
Gesine Schwan & Ralf Stegner 20,583 9.63
Abstentions 2,376 1.11 3,480 1.60
Invalid/blank votes 1,263 0.59 454 0.21
Total 214,956 100.00 217,175 100.00
Rejected ballots 11,819 5.21 13,040 5.66
Ballots received/turnout 226,775 53.28 230,215 54.09
Eligible voters 425,630 425,630
Results: 1st round, 2nd round
First Round
Scholz/Geywitz
22.68%
Walter-Borjans/Esken
21.04%
Kampmann/Roth
16.28%
Scheer/Lauterbach
14.63%
Köpping/Pistorius
14.41%
Schwan/Stegner
9.63%
Second Round
Walter-Borjans/Esken
53.06%
Scholz/Geywitz
45.33%

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "§ 9 PartG - Einzelnorm". www.gesetze-im-internet.de.
  2. ^ Teevs, Christian (June 24, 2019). "SPD-Verfahren zur Nahles-Nachfolge: Genossen suchen die Supersozis" [SPD process for Nahles' successor: Comrades are looking for the super socialists]. Der Spiegel (in German).
  3. ^ Husmann, Wenke (2019-11-24). "Stephan Weil warnt vor Wahl von Saskia Esken" [Stephan Weil warns against the election of Saskia Esken]. Zeit Online (in German).
  4. ^ Ismar, Georg (3 December 2019). "Die SPD-Spitze sagt die Revolte wieder ab" [The SPD leadership calls off the revolt again]. Tagesspiegel (in German).
  5. ^ "Rangliste der deutschen Politiker: Walter-Borjans stürzt ab" [Ranking of German politicians: Walter-Borjans falls]. Focus (in German). 14 August 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  6. ^ "SPD-Spitze nominiert Olaf Scholz als Kanzlerkandidaten" [SPD leadership nominates Olaf Scholz as candidate for chancellor]. Zeit Online (in German). 10 August 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  7. ^ ""Passt nicht zur Partei"" [“Doesn’t fit the party”]. Sueddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 10 August 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Wer soll´s werden? Entscheide mit!" [Who should it be? Decide!]. Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  9. ^ "Erstes SPD-Duo bewirbt sich offiziell um Parteispitze" [The first SPD duo officially applies for party leadership]. Focus (in German). 2 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Application for SPD chairmanship by Kampmann and Roth" (PDF). Michaelroth.eu (in German). 3 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Christina Kampmann & Michael Roth". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Federal SPD: Roth and Kampmann nominated as candidates for chairmanship". Westdeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 30 June 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Nina Scheer and Karl Lauterbach want to become SPD party leaders". Der Spiegel (in German). 12 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Scheer and Lauterbach are collecting the necessary supporters". Der Spiegel (in German). 16 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Nina Scheer & Karl Lauterbach". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Schwan and Stegner are running for SPD chairmanship". Der Spiegel (in German). 14 August 2019.
  17. ^ "Gesine Schwan & Ralf Stegner". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Pistorius and Köpping are running for SPD chairmanship". Der Spiegel (in German). 16 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Petra Köpping & Boris Pistorius". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020.
  20. ^ "The insider". Der Spiegel (in German). 21 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Olaf Scholz wants to become SPD leader". Der Spiegel (in German). 16 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Klara Geywitz & Olaf Scholz". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken want to lead the SPD". Die Zeit (in German). 28 August 2019.
  24. ^ "NRW-SPD nominiert Walter-Borjans für Bundesvorsitz". Die Welt (in German). 30 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Saskia Esken & Norbert Walter-Borjans". SPD.de (in German). 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Simone Lange is applying again for SPD chairmanship". Der Spiegel (in German). 2 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Lange and Ahrens get the support they need". Der Spiegel (in German). 27 August 2019.
  28. ^ a b "Simone Lange and Alexander Ahrens withdraw their candidacy". Die Zeit (in German). 4 September 2019.
  29. ^ "Karl-Heinz Brunner is running for leadership of the SPD". Die Zeit (in German). 20 August 2019.
  30. ^ "Single candidate Brunner drops out". Der Spiegel (in German). 16 September 2019.
  31. ^ "SPD leftist Mattheis and Verdi chief economist Hirschel are applying for party leadership". Wirtschaftswoche (in German). 18 August 2019.
  32. ^ "8 sub-districts nominate Hilde Mattheis and Dierk Hirschel". Forum Democratic Left 21 (in German). 28 August 2019.
  33. ^ "Mattheis and Hirschel withdraw their candidacy for SPD chairmanship". Der Spiegel (in German). 12 October 2019.
  34. ^ "A 79-year-old and a new comrade want to become SPD leaders". RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (in German). 15 July 2019.
  35. ^ "Hans Wallow from Bonn wants to become SPD leader". General-Anzeiger (in German). 15 July 2019.
  36. ^ ""The SPD in particular does not take concerns about migration and violence seriously"". Die Welt (in German). 5 August 2019.
  37. ^ "Timmendorfer wants to become SPD chairman". Lübecker Nachrichten (in German). 28 August 2019.
  38. ^ a b "Kühnert rejects candidacy for SPD chairmanship". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 28 August 2019.
  39. ^ "Böhmermann wants to become SPD leader". Der Spiegel (in German). 29 August 2019.
  40. ^ "Franziska Giffey hält sich Kandidatur für SPD-Vorsitz offen". Der Spiegel. 6 July 2019.
  41. ^ "Arbeitsminister Hubertus Heil will nicht SPD-Chef werden". Der Tagesspiegel Online.
  42. ^ "Rehlinger rechnet mit weiteren Kandidaten für SPD-Vorsitz". Die Welt. 6 August 2019.
  43. ^ "SPD-Vorsitz: Stephan Weil verzichtet auf Kandidatur". Faz.net.
  44. ^ "Race for the SPD chairmanship: These candidates have the best chances". RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (in German). 17 September 2019.