Underdog who pulled off victory against all odds
Olaf Scholz has managed what many in Germany had considered impossible: bringing the Social Democrats back from the dead.
Germany’s oldest political party, the center-left Social Democratic Party, known by its German acronym SPD, has languished in the polls for years. But in the just concluded elections, it pulled ahead, winning 26 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary numbers. The centre-right Christian Democrats won 24 per cent of the vote, the lowest mark for the party since its founding in 1945.
Crisis man
As finance minister and Vice Chancellor in Merkel’s cabinet during the pandemic, Scholz, 63, built a reputation for having steady hands during a crisis.
He has been dubbed the “Scholzomat” for his dry verging on boring - political style. His career though has been buffeted by several scandals
A lifelong Social Democrat, Scholz was born in Osnabrck in the western German state of Lower Saxony and raised in the wealthy city-state of Hamburg s mayor. Alternating between state and national politics, he has served in the parliament, or Bundestag, and as minister of labour and social affairs in Merkel’s first cabinet.