Socialist party names its man in bid to oust Merkel

SPD surge in polls ahead of election attributed to ‘Schulz effect’

Germany’s Social Democratic Party has unanimously elected Martin Schulz as the party’s top candidate to challenge chancellor Angela Merkel in the general election.

Party leaders had unexpectedly nominated Mr Schulz in January after long-time chairman Sigmar Gabriel stepped aside.

Since then, the Social Democrats (SPD) have enjoyed a surge in the polls – attributed to the “Schulz effect”.

In a speech to delegates at a convention in Berlin yesterday, Mr Schulz evoked the party’s 154-year history of campaigning for workers’ rights and called for greater investment in education and health care.

He blamed the growing gap between average voters and the ultra-rich for souring politics and for boosting the popularity of nationalist and populist politicians.

The 61-year-old, until recently president of the European Parliament, said his party would work to strengthen international cooperation, including with the US, but rejected what he called the “misogynistic, anti-democratic and racist” rhetoric of President Trump. Mr Schulz, the only nominee for the post of party chairman, received 100% of the delegates’ votes, an unprecedented result in its post-war history.

Germany has rejected Mr Trump’s claim that the country owes Nato large sums for not spending enough on defence. The US president had tweeted “Germany owes vast sums of money to Nato and the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defence it provides to Germany”. His comments came a day after his firstmeeting with chancellor Mrs Merkel, which he described as “great”.

CONTENDER: Martin Schulz, seen in jubilant mood yesterday, became the unexpected choice when the party chairman stood aside

Angela Merkel: now knows opponent