German SPD leader Schulz quits in bid to end turbulence

GERMAN Social Democratic leader (SPD) Martin Schulz resigned on Tuesday, hoping to end turbulence that has rocked the centre-left party since it agreed a coalition deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

Mr Schulz’s deputy Olaf Scholz, the Hamburg mayor who is slated to become finance minister in the new government, said he would become caretaker SPD chairman, and the party confirmed that it had recommended parliamentary floor leader Andrea Nahles as Mr Schulz’s longer-term successor.

Amid deep rank-and-file divisions over the coalition deal and the distribution of ministerial posts, and facing a slump in opinion polls, SPD leaders are trying to convince 464,000 party members to endorse the accord with Mrs Merkel in a ballot on which her fourth term depends.

With many SPD members harbouring misgivings about sharing power with Mrs Merkel again, the result of the vote, due on March 4, is wide open. If members reject the coalition pact, a new German election looks the most likely option.

Mr Schulz said an extraordinary party congress would be held in the western city of Wiesbaden on April 22 to pick a new leader.

Ms Nahles, a plain-speaking 47-year-old former labour minister with a left-wing slant and strong oratory skills, is the frontrunner and would become the first female leader in the party’s 154-year history.

On Tuesday, Mr Schulz said he hoped his decision to resign would result in party members focusing on the coalition treaty rather than personnel issues.

He said he hoped the party could “regain its former strength” under Ms Nahles’ leadership and as part of the German government, if members agreed to that in the upcoming ballot.

Two sources in the SPD leadership said the party decided not to make Ms Nahles a caretaker leader because it did not want to pre-empt a vote at the party congress and so possibly influence the members’ vote on a coalition with Mrs Merkel.

Kevin Kuehnert, who leads the SPD’s youth wing and is campaigning for members to vote against another tie-up with Mrs Merkel, welcomed the decision as he said it would enable the party to focus completely on the members’ coalition ballot.

Ms Nahles said she would start campaigning at the weekend for members to vote “yes” to a coalition with Mrs Merkel.