Regional Victory Brings Germany’s Scholz Brief Respite

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) staved off the far right in a regional election on Sunday, likely providing him only a brief reprieve from growing criticism of his leadership within his own party.

The center-left SPD staged a last-minute comeback in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where they have ruled since reunification in 1990, and Scholz has his own constituency to win the election on 30.9% of the vote.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had topped polls for the past two years in the state, won 29.2%, according to provisional official results by the State Electoral Commissioner.

The AfD party continues to gain momentum as it capitalizes on worries about a cost-of-living crisis in Europe’s largest economy, irregular immigration and a possible escalation of the war in Ukraine due to German weapons deliveries to Kyiv.

Moreover, three-quarters of those who voted for the SPD did not do so out of conviction but rather to fend off the AfD, according to the exit poll published by broadcaster ARD, in the election with a record turnout of 72.9%.

Brandenburg’s SPD premier Dietmar Woidke avoided campaigning with Scholz, Germany’s least popular chancellor on record, and even criticized the federal coalition’s policies and constant bickering

As such, the regional election results are unlikely to end the growing debate within the SPD over whether Scholz is the right person to lead the party into next year’s federal election given what critics call his hesitant leadership and poor communication skills.

CNN/Shakirat Sadiq