German Social Democrat chief Sigmar Gabriel proposes former European Union Parliament president Schulz to run against Merkel in September’s general election, German News Agency DPA reported.
Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel will not be a chancellor candidate of the SPD against Angela Merkel in upcoming federal elections.
Gabriel will also give up the party presidency. He sees his future in the German Foreign Office, he told another German newspaper ZEIT.
With Gabriel’s staggering decision, the uncertainty about Social democrat’s most important position ends before the Bundestag elections in 2017. Instead of Gabriel, the former President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, is to become the top candidate of the Social Democrats.
Gabriel will propose this to the party in the next few days. Apparently, the Social Democrats want to nominate their chancellor candidates officially on Sunday (January 29).
The decision was made by Gabriel after a survey among Social Democrats sympathisers, commissioned by himself. A large majority of the party agreed, with Martin Schulz SPS have better chances at the Bundestag election.
However, Schulz will also take charge of the presidency of the SPD.
